Department for Transport

South Eastern Rail Franchise

Sir David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent progress he has made on announcing the successful bidder of the South Eastern Rail Franchise.

Andrew Jones: The South Eastern franchise competition is currently in the evaluation phase. The Department is working to achieve the best possible outcome for passengers and taxpayers, an announcement will be made in due course.

Bus Services

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many Enhanced Partnerships have been set up with local authorities since the Bus Services Act 2017 came into force.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: Local authorities and bus operators are not required to inform the Department when they establish individual statutory or voluntary partnerships. Data for the Department’s Annual Bus Statistics 2017/18 show that 20% of local bus operators in England were part of at least one bus partnership scheme (operators can be involved in more than one). The statistics also show that 7% of local bus operators in England were involved in at least one statutory bus partnership scheme with 16% involved in at least one voluntary scheme (operators can be involved in more than one scheme e.g. one statutory and one voluntary).

Bus Services

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many Voluntary Partnerships have been set up with local authorities since the Bus Services Act 2017 came into force.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: Local authorities and bus operators are not required to inform the Department when they establish individual statutory or voluntary partnerships. Data for the Department’s Annual Bus Statistics 2017/18 show that 20% of local bus operators in England were part of at least one bus partnership scheme (operators can be involved in more than one). The statistics also show that 7% of local bus operators in England were involved in at least one statutory bus partnership scheme with 16% involved in at least one voluntary scheme (operators can be involved in more than one scheme e.g. one statutory and one voluntary).

Bus Services

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many Advanced Quality Partnerships have been set up with local authorities since the Bus Services Act 2017 came into force.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: Local authorities and bus operators are not required to inform the Department when they establish individual statutory or voluntary partnerships. Data for the Department’s Annual Bus Statistics 2017/18 show that 20% of local bus operators in England were part of at least one bus partnership scheme (operators can be involved in more than one). The statistics also show that 7% of local bus operators in England were involved in at least one statutory bus partnership scheme with 16% involved in at least one voluntary scheme (operators can be involved in more than one scheme e.g. one statutory and one voluntary).

Public Transport

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has made an estimate of the number of public transport journeys made in 2018-19 according to (a) age group, (b) gender and (c) the main mode of transport used.

Michael Ellis: The Department publishes estimated trip rates per person per year by age, gender and main mode (including public transport modes) in table NTS0601, here:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/nts03-modal-comparisons#mode-by-age-and-genderThese figures are based on the Department’s National Travel Survey for English residents travelling in Great Britain. The latest data available is for 2017, the next release will be published on 31st July 2019 and will provide data for 2018.

Railways: Concessions

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has assessed the potential merits of encouraging rail companies to enable all-day travel on senior rail cards and freedom passes to reduce the cost of travel for older people who have childcare or caring responsibilities.

Andrew Jones: We already require train operating companies to participate in certain approved discount card schemes for young and student travellers, disabled passengers and those over 60. The Senior Railcard offers anyone 60 years or over discounts on many fares on the network and the Disabled persons railcard also entitles a carer 1/3 off their rail fares when travelling with a person holding the railcard. We are currently undertaking work with the Rail Delivery Group and Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee to review the eligibility criteria of the Disabled Persons Railcard. As part of this we will be examining how we can improve provisions for carers/support workers or companions. The review is expected to be completed by the end of 2019.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Research: Finance

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what his Department's time frame is for the allocation of funding to (a) UK Research and Innovation, (b) the research councils and (c) Research England for 2019-20.

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he plans to announce the allocations for UK Research and Innovation for 2019-20; and what steps he is taking to ensure that those allocations are made as soon as possible.

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when UK Research and Innovation plans to announce its funding allocations to (a) Research England and (b) the research councils for 2019-20.

Chris Skidmore: We are increasing spending on R&D by £7 billion over 5 years by 2021-22. This will be the largest increase ever. The allocation of research and innovation funding for 2017-2021 was published in August 2018 and can be found online at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/research-and-innovation-funding-allocation-2017-to-2021.UKRI and its councils published their Delivery Plans on 10 June as part of their UKRI 2019 event (www.UKRI.org/deliveryplans). These plans include the information about allocations for 2019-20, with a total UKRI annual budget of £7.5billion.

Anaerobic Digestion: Biofuels

Colin Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Energy and Clean Growth of 16 October 2019, Official Report column 498, what progress the Government has made on reviewing the use of anaerobic digesters and the sustainable sourcing of biofuels.

Chris Skidmore: The Committee on Climate Change published their report on ‘Biomass in a low carbon economy’ in November 2018. The report was a significant contribution to the evidence base and will inform future policy development on renewable energy, including the use of anaerobic digesters and sustainability criteria for biomass.

Fraud: Scotland

Hugh Gaffney: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to improve public awareness of scams in Scotland.

Kelly Tolhurst: Responsibility and funding to provide consumer advice, education and advocacy was devolved to the Scottish Government under the Scotland Act 2016. The Scottish Government fund Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) and Advice Direct Scotland (ADS) to deliver. BEIS remains responsible for funding the delivery of national and cross-border enforcement in Scotland through Trading Standards Scotland (TSS). CAS and TSS are currently working together to deliver the annual Scams Awareness campaign in Scotland which runs from 10th to 23rd June to raise awareness, educate consumers and encourage the reporting of scams. TSS also worked with Policy Scotland, local Trading Standards and Neighbourhood Watch on the “Shut out Scammers” campaign in April this year to tackle doorstep crime and bogus callers. Much of the work undertaken by TSS is targeted at preventing scams; tackling rogue traders; and bringing the perpetrators to justice.

Fuel Poverty

Hugh Gaffney: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the level of fuel poverty in the UK.

Chris Skidmore: We welcome the Annual Fuel Poverty Statistics Report for England, published on Thursday 13 June 2019, which showed that 18,000 fewer households were in fuel poverty in 2017 compared to 2016. We also saw a 4% year-on-year decrease in the average fuel poverty gap between fuel poor and other households. These statistics show that our policies are working. Continued delivery of energy efficiency measures, the introduction of the National Living Wage in 2016 and the prepayment meter price cap introduced in April 2017 will all have made a contribution. Next year’s projections will capture the impact of the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards in the private rented sector for the first time, as well as the updated Energy Company Obligation, worth £640m per year, which focuses 100% on low income and vulnerable households.

Green Deal Scheme: Universal Credit

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many households with active green deals are in receipt of Universal Credit.

Chris Skidmore: The Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy does not hold information on how many households with live Green Deal plans are in receipt of Universal Credit.

Doctors: Training

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the effect on the economy of the number of people undertaking doctoral training.

Chris Skidmore: The Government’s target to reach a total of 2.4% of GDP invested in R&D by 2027 will mean increasing the numbers of highly trained people working in research and innovation including those undertaking doctoral training. Business-academia collaborations, decisions by internationally mobile companies to locate their R&D functions in the UK and the development of industrial clusters of companies all rely on access to pools of talented researchers. In addition, industrial clusters, particularly in the pharmaceutical industry, are often co-located in regions where there are also high quality research intensive universities. This co-location enables the flow of graduates and post-graduates between institutions and companies. More broadly, a 2015 review on the impacts of doctoral training found that the overwhelming majority of doctoral graduates continued to be involved in the creation of new knowledge, innovation and development of new products and processes, both in the academic and business sectors. Employers highly valued the specialists knowledge and problem-solving skills possessed by doctoral graduates. https://www.ukri.org/files/skills/full-report-idc-pdf/

Tidal Power

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent progress his Department has made on the development of tidal energy.

Chris Skidmore: My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State made a statement to the House on Monday 25 June 2018 setting out our position on the support for the proposed Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon project. The Department’s analysis of the project and the proposed follow-on programme of lagoons was that it did not represent value for money. This remains the Department’s position. In February, the Minister of State for Energy and Clean Growth met the rt. hon. member for Orkney and Shetland, along with a cross-party delegation of Members of Parliament and representatives of the sector, to discuss the potential for alternative methods of funding early tidal stream and wave energy deployment.

Tidal Power: Swansea Bay

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will review the decision on funding for the Swansea Tidal Lagoon project.

Chris Skidmore: My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State made a statement to the House on Monday 25 June 2018 setting out our position on the support for the proposed Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon project. The Department’s analysis of the project and the proposed follow-on programme of lagoons was that it did not represent value for money. This remains the Department’s position. The Government has said it is open to considering well developed, privately developed tidal range projects. However they must be able to demonstrate credibly that they would represent value for money.

Energy: Cooperatives

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to encourage the development of local energy co-operatives; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Skidmore: Community Energy is an important part of the energy system, generating clean energy and delivering energy efficiency, demand management and emissions reductions while engaging the wider community on the energy transition and climate change. Energy co-operatives are one of the business models that we support. For example, they are eligible for the Rural Community Energy Fund (RCEF) which re-opened at the end of May. The RCEF is a £10m programme which supports rural communities who are looking to develop renewable energy projects. Grants are available for feasibility studies to test out ideas, and if viable, grants are also available to assist with pre-development of projects.

Climate Change: International Cooperation

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent discussions he has had with his US counterpart on international co-operation to tackle climate change.

Chris Skidmore: My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State and BEIS Ministers regularly meet with their international counterparts to discuss a range of issues including climate change. In discussions with US counterparts, the Secretary of State stressed that the UK would prefer the US to remain in the Paris Agreement. We work closely on a wide range of climate and energy issues, including renewables, innovation, CCUS and nuclear, and we will continue to do so.

Housing: Insulation

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent steps he has taken to promote the installation of insulation in homes.

Chris Skidmore: The Energy Company Obligation (ECO), worth £640m per annum, requires larger energy suppliers to install energy efficiency measures, including insulation. Since January 2013, around 2.5 million measures have been installed in nearly 2 million homes under the scheme; around two thirds of measures have been insulation. The latest iteration of the scheme, ECO3, is focussed entirely on low income and vulnerable households and will last until March 2022. We estimate that around 1 million insulation measures will be installed under ECO3. Furthermore, the domestic private rented sector minimum energy efficiency standards, which were introduced in April 2018, require private landlords to upgrade their properties to an EPC Band E or better and we estimate that around 40% (350,000) of the measures installed as a result will be insulation measures. We have also taken steps to encourage consumers to take action themselves, including through the creation of the Simple Energy Advice portal to offer impartial information and advice on energy efficiency measures and working with industry to establish the TrustMark quality mark to help improve consumer confidence in measures such as insulation.

Cars: Sales

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on bringing forward the 2040 deadline to end the sale of new conventional petrol and diesel cars.

Andrew Stephenson: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Innovation

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will provide a list of all publicly-owned testing centres for innovation.

Chris Skidmore: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Conditions of Employment

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 10 June 2019 to Question 260093, on what dates each labour market enforcement undertaking was applied; to which employers such undertakings were applied; and on the basis of what trigger offence in each case.

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many prosecutions there have been for breaching a labour market enforcement undertaking or order in each year since those undertakings and orders came into force.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Immigration Act 2016 introduced the provision for three labour market enforcement bodies to serve labour market enforcement undertakings (LMEU) and orders (LMEO): the Employment Agency Standards (EAS) Inspectorate, the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) and Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs – National Minimum Wage Team (HMRC – NMW). To date, no prosecution has resulted from breaching a labour market enforcement undertaking or order. Each enforcement body has a different legal framework for the disclosure of information related to LMEUs. Both EAS and HMRC – NMW cannot disclose the name of the employers or the nature of the offences without informed consent from the employers involved as this would be in breach of their respective customer confidentiality clauses. Section 9 of the Employment Agency Act precludes EAS from publishing the name or details of enforcement action without the permission of the employment business or agencies involved. Section 18 of the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act (CRCA) 2005 precludes HMRC from disclosing/sharing information about an individual or taxpayer to a third party. The GLAA routinely discloses the dates and the type of trigger offences for which its LMEUs are served. Whilst the Gangmasters (Licensing) Act 2004 does not preclude the GLAA from disclosing the names of the recipients of LMEUs, the GLAA does not deem appropriate to release their identity. Identity disclosure would defeat the purpose of LMEUs which are a voluntary agreement meant to be a proportionate sanction to encourage compliant behaviour from the recipient.  The table below displays the information that could be disclosed by the three enforcement bodies: Enforcement BodyNumber of LMEU servedDate of commencementTrigger offenceEAS404/04/18Not disclosed103/04/18Not disclosedGLAA120/03/18All these LMEUs have been issued for trigger offences under section 12 and 13 of the Gangmasters Licensing Act 2004 which respectively refer to acting as an unlicensed gangmaster and using labour supplied by an unlicensed gangmaster.122/05/18121/06/18113/07/18123/07/18116/08/18321/08/18131/12/18415/04/19126/04/19HMRC - NMW119/06/18Not disclosed127/06/18Not disclosed121/08/18Not disclosed105/11/18Not disclosed122/10/18Not disclosed130/10/18Not disclosed116/11/18Not disclosed107/03/19Not disclosed Total: 28

Minimum Wage

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 10 June 2019 to Question 260713 on Minimum Wage, how many employers were (a) found to be non-compliant with the National Minimum Wage, (b) prosecuted for non-compliance with the National Minimum Wage, (c) subject to labour market enforcement undertakings or orders in relation to non-compliance with the National Minimum Wage and (d) named under the National Minimum Wage Naming Scheme in 2018-19.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Government is clear that National Minimum Wage (NMW) enforcement is a priority and we take tough action against the minority of employers who underpay. We have more than doubled the budget for NMW compliance and enforcement since 2015, to a record high of £27.4 million. The 2018/19 financial year was a record year for NMW enforcement; HMRC identified £24.4 million in arrears across 3,018 cases – a record number since the introduction of the National Living Wage in 2016. HMRC issued seven labour market undertakings in 2018/19 and there are currently seven cases at various stages of the criminal investigation process. We strike a careful balance with our enforcement; working with and educating employers to make sure they pay their workers correctly whilst tackling the most serious cases of wilful non-compliance. Prosecution is reserved for the most egregious breaches of minimum wage law and, in most cases, it is not the best approach to help workers. Criminal sanctions against companies can mean that workers end up waiting considerably longer for their lost earnings to be repaid. In 2018/19 the Government named 239 employers as part of the NMW Naming Scheme, covering over £1.4 million in arrears for 22,361 workers. The scheme is currently under review to ensure that it best fulfils its purpose, and we will conclude this work during the summer.

Minimum Wage

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 10 June 2019 to Question 260713 on Minimum Wage, when the Government resumes naming employers found underpaying the National Minimum Wage, whether they will name all employers who have been found to be underpaying since the last naming round on 6 July 2018.

Kelly Tolhurst: Enforcement of the National Minimum and National Living Wage (NMW) is a priority for the Government. We remain committed to naming employers who break the law. The review of the NMW Naming Scheme will be concluded during the summer and will be communicated through changes to our published NMW Enforcement policy documents. HM Revenue and Customs’ NMW team continues to collate cases to be passed to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy for consideration under the NMW Naming Scheme. When naming resumes, all cases which have closed since publication of the previous naming round will be considered for naming in line with the published policy.

Performing Arts: Conditions of Employment

Tracy Brabin: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of regulating casting websites for performers to ensure that advertised roles comply with (a) the national minimum wage and (b) the Employment Agencies Act 1973 and the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Government is committed to creating a labour market that works for everyone. Effective enforcement is a key element of the Good Work Plan, which sets out the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation.Casting websites in the acting sector can already meet the definition of an employment agency, as set out in the Employment Agencies Act 1973. If they meet the definition, they need to comply with the current legislation, which includes specific regulations that cover acting and background extras agencies.The Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 includes certain requirements in relation to advertising by employment agencies and such requirements are enforced by the Employment Agency Standards (EAS) Inspectorate.EAS work with other enforcement partners, such as HMRC who enforce National Minimum Wage legislation. EAS share information with HMRC where there is information to suggest non-compliance with National Minimum Wage legislation, as well as with other enforcement partners to protect vulnerable workers in the labour market.

Climate Change

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department has taken in response to the motion agreed by the House of Commons on 1 May 2019 declaring a climate emergency.

Chris Skidmore: The Government fully recognises the urgency of acting on climate change. I am pleased to confirm that on 12th June, the Government laid draft legislation to set a new net zero greenhouse gas emissions target for the UK, to be delivered by 2050. This world-leading target will bring to an end our contribution to climate change. We already have a strong foundation of action and leadership to build from, having cut our emissions by 42% since 1990 while growing the economy by 72%. And we are providing at least £5.8bn of international climate finance between 2016 and 2020 to help developing countries mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change, reduce deforestation and pursue clean economic growth.

Parental Leave

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he plans to bring forward legislative proposals on the provision of parental leave for parents of sick children.

Kelly Tolhurst: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Chief Scientific Advisers

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many meetings he held with his Department’s Chief Scientific Adviser between 1 March 2019 and 31 May 2019.

Chris Skidmore: My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State met with his Department’s Chief Scientific Adviser on one occasion between 1 March 2019 and 31 May 2019.

Labour Market

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 12 June to Question 260712, whether his Department has begun drafting the proposals for consultation on a single labour market enforcement body; how many civil servants will be allocated to work on those proposals; and whether the consultation will open before 22 July 2019.

Kelly Tolhurst: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Northern Ireland Office

Northern Ireland Office: Living Wage

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what proportion of organisations that hold contracts with her Department pay the National Living Wage.

John Penrose: The Northern Ireland Office does not hold this information centrally. However, the Department fully recognises that it is a criminal offence for employers to not pay someone the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage.

Northern Ireland Office: Empty Poroperty

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, if she will publish the name and location of the land and buildings owned by her Department that is (a) sitting empty and (b) in the process of being sold or disposed of; and if she will make a statement.

John Penrose: The Northern Ireland Office does not hold any land or buildings that are sitting empty. Nor are there any buildings in the process of being sold, or disposed of.

Northern Ireland Office: Chief Scientific Advisers

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many meetings she held with her Department’s Chief Scientific Adviser between 1 March 2019 and 31 May 2019.

John Penrose: The Northern Ireland Office does not have a Departmental Chief Scientific Adviser.

Attorney General

Rape: Prosecutions

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Attorney General, (a) how many and (b) what proportion of cases of rape reported to the CPS were administratively finalised in each year since 2010.

Lucy Frazer: It is important to stress that ’administrative finalisation’ is not a prosecutorial decision. It is an administrative process where cases are closed on CPS’ electronic case management system. It does not necessarily mean the proceedings are at an end. Such cases may be reopened, if at a later date, new material is provided to the prosecution enabling a charging decision to be made. Proceedings are administratively finalised when: The police seek early investigative advice from the CPS and did not resubmit the case to the CPS for a charging decision. In these instances, the case enters the CPS records but was never actually referred for a charging decision. The police do refer a case to the police but there is insufficient evidence to bring a charge, sothe CPS ask the police to complete an action plan in order to improve the evidence. If the police are unable to respond to the action plan or decide not to pursue the matter, then the case will be ‘administratively finalised’ on the CPS system because the police cannot bring forward a case with sufficient evidence to charge.There was a 9% reduction in referrals from the police between 2016/17 and 2017/18. During this period, the percentage of cases resulting in no further action remained largely unchanged. There was, however, a significant increase in both the volume and percentage of cases administratively finalised. This is largely because of internal CPS administrative processes, reminding users to ‘administratively finalise’ cases where the police had requested early advice but had not resubmitted.This coincided with an increase in the number of cases where the police have not responded to early investigative advice or an action plan has resulted in a rise in the number of administrative finalisations.The table below shows the outcome of all referrals from the police for a pre charge decision, and show both the volume and the rates of these outcomesTABLE KEY: Decision to charge: Prosecutors must be satisfied there is enough evidence to provide a "realistic prospect of conviction" against each defendant and that the prosecution is in the public interest. Take no further action: This is a prosecutorial decision based on an assessment that there is insufficient evidence to provide a “realistic prospect of conviction” or that a prosecution is not in the public interest. The case may be reopened if the police provide further evidence or the victim successfully appeals the decision under the victims right to review; Out of Court Disposal: Out of court disposals include a caution, conditional caution or the recommendation that the offence is taken into consideration with other charges; Other: the result of the charging decision is not known or has not been given for that suspect. Volumes & Rates as %ChargeNo Further ActionOut of Court DisposalAdmin FinalisedOtherTotal2010-20113,387 (42%)4,339 (53%)65 (1%)321 (4%)18 (0%)8,1302011-20123,213 (47%)3,281 (48%)42 (1%)275 (4%)11 (0%)6,8222012-20132,889 (53%)2,195 (41%)34 (1%)281 (5%)5 (0%)5,4042013-20143,621 (62%)1,857 (32%)23 (0%)341 (6%)8 (0%)5,8502014-20153,648 (59%)1,997 (32%)29 (0%)484 (8%)1 (0%)6,1592015-20163,910 (57%)2,271 (33%)24 (0%)645 (9%)5 (0%)6,8552016-20173,671 (56%)2,145 (32%)30 (0%)761 (12%)4 (0%)6,6112017-20182,822 (47%1,851 (31%)26 (0%)1,307 (22%)6 (0%)6,012Data Source: CPS Case Management Information System

Rape

Helen Jones: To ask the Attorney General, how many complaints of rape were made in each region; and how many of these cases resulted in a (a) prosecution and (b) conviction in each year since 2010.

Lucy Frazer: Rape is one of the most complex and challenging offences to prosecute and charging decisions have a profound impact on those involved. The CPS has undertaken extensive work over the last decade to ensure that when reaching prosecution decisions specialist prosecutors are fully equipped to deal with the particular complexities of rape cases.While the CPS does not hold a record of the number of complaints of rape to the police, we can provide data on the number of rape prosecutions and convictions recorded by the CPS system.The table below provides the volume of rape prosecutions broken down by CPS Area. 2010-20112011-20122012-20132013-20142014-20152015-20162016-20172017-2018Cymru Wales278224233257276217251230Eastern212239201224266298275226East Midlands293311278252271277320383London North495352349376414368430365London South366316318354397366416357Merseyside & Cheshire142135127120143176243202North East220227199194214229285289North West478459455454556557601469South East299277236260328348440288South West222257300288287306296310Thames and Chiltern202203181204266269303187Wessex197161174207221200184118West Midlands396323338346398506644553Yorkshire & Humberside408380303355499526502540Total4,2083,8643,6923,8914,5364,6435,1904,517Data Source: CPS Case Management Information System The following table provides a breakdown by CPS Area of the volume of rape convictions.  2010-20112011-20122012-20132013-20142014-20152015-20162016-20172017-2018Cymru Wales146140135149150115139140Eastern145165136142165167169142East Midlands166208188174186179208231London North258191187208217197232187London South190179180173183197231177Merseyside & Cheshire8277909096100138114North East144128126112108125156167North West298288283274295342370266South East165177151155187175232159South West154175198182166194181213Thames and Chiltern111125112123157162162111Wessex105110117108909913378West Midlands240200227226263309345311Yorkshire & Humberside261251203232318328295339Total2,4652,4142,3332,3482,5812,6892,9912,635Data Source: CPS Case Management Information System

Department of Health and Social Care

Genito-urinary Medicine: Finance

Mr Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will increase funding for sexual health services in local communities.

Seema Kennedy: The Government provides funding to local authorities for their public health responsibilities, including sexual health services, through a public health grant. It is for individual local authorities to decide their spending priorities based on an assessment of local need, including the need for sexual health services taking account of their statutory duties. They are required by regulations to provide services for sexually transmitted infection testing and treatment and contraception.Future funding for local authority public health functions will be a matter for the Spending Review.

Genito-urinary Medicine

Mr Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of sexual health services for local communities.

Seema Kennedy: The Government has mandated local authorities to commission comprehensive open access sexual health services. Local authorities are best placed to understand and meet the public health needs of their local communities.Data published by Public Health England shows that more people are accessing sexual health services, with attendances increasing by 7% between 2017 and 2018. This continues the trend of increases in attendances seen over the past five years. To help manage the overall rising demand, local authorities are increasingly commissioning online services to manage lower risk and asymptomatic patients. These services also have the potential to reach groups not currently engaged with clinic services. The data is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/sexually-transmitted-infections-stis-annual-data-tables

Prostate Cancer

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what forecast he has made of changes in the rates of prostate cancer in this Parliament.

Seema Kennedy: No such forecast has been made. The age-standardised rate per 100,000 male population of newly diagnosed cases of prostate cancer rose from 149.5 in 2000 to 173.1 in 2017. This rise is largely due to the ageing population and the increase in prostate specific antigen testing.Source: Office for National Statistics: Cancer registrations in England.

Mental Health Services: Children

Barbara Keeley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many out of area placements for children and young people under the age of 18 NHS England has commissioned in in-patient mental health hospitals in each of the last three years where the length of stay for the patient has exceeded (a) one year, (b) two years and (c) three years.

Jackie Doyle-Price: Information on the length of stay for out of area placements is not collected centrally.The length of stay of an individual patient is influenced by many factors. The aim is always to have as short a stay as possible in an in-patient setting with patients returning home and having support from community-based services.

NHSX: Conditions of Employment and Pay

Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether civil servants transferring from his Department to NHSX received changes to (a) salaries and (b) terms and conditions of employment.

Jackie Doyle-Price: NHSX is a joint unit between the Department and NHS England. No staff have been transferred as NHSX is not a separate body. Departmental staff working in the joint unit remain on their existing salaries and terms and conditions of employment.

Mental Health Services: Children and Young People

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many child and adolescent mental health service beds there have been in the NHS in each month since 2015.

Seema Kennedy: The information is not held in the format requested.

Electronic Cigarettes: Children

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to tackle underage vaping.

Seema Kennedy: The European Union’s Tobacco Product Directive (2014/40/EU) legislates for, amongst other matters, the regulation of electronic cigarettes. It has been transposed into United Kingdom law by the UK Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016. The legislation introduced measures to regulate e-cigarettes to reduce the risk of harm to children through rules on product safety, labelling and restrictions on advertising for electronic cigarettes. Furthermore, the Nicotine Inhaling Products (Age of Sale and Proxy Purchasing) Regulations 2015 makes it illegal to sell an electronic cigarette to any one aged under 18 years. Local trading standards have enforcement powers to take action on breaches of both sets of regulations. We continue to monitor the evidence and data on youth vaping. Public Health England’s latest e-cigarette evidence review published in February 2019 indicates regular youth use of electronic cigarettes remains low. The Government has also made a commitment to review the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 by May 2021, and the Nicotine Inhaling Products (Age of Sale and Proxy Purchasing) Regulations 2015 by May 2020.

Nurses: Career Development

Dawn Butler: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to enable and support career options for older nurses in order to retain them in the workforce.

Stephen Hammond: NHS Improvement and NHS Employers have been working in partnership to deliver a national programme of action to support National Health Service trusts to improve retention of the nursing and clinical workforce. This provides targeted support to trusts on key issues affecting retention, such as flexible working, supporting older workers, and development and career planning.As part of the programme, NHS Improvement and NHS Employers have held specific workshops with trusts around flexible working and supporting older workers, and they continue to publish a range of case studies and tools on the online Retention Improvement Hub to support trusts to do this.Health Education England launched a national nurse return-to-practice (RtP) programme in September 2014, which provides experienced nurses who have taken a break or retired with training and a route back into the NHS.The RtP programme prepares nurses to return to the Nursing and Midwifery Council register, to enable them to take up posts in the NHS, care homes, primary care or other areas.

Mental Health Services: Children and Young People

Barbara Keeley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to section 3.5 of the NHS Operational Planning Guidance 2019-20, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the reduction in CCG administrative budgets does not mean that  local areas miss the targets to improve children and young people’s mental health services as set out in the NHS Long Term Plan.

Seema Kennedy: The NHS Long Term Plan commits to grow investment in mental health services faster than growth in the National Health Service budget overall for each of the next five years. This means mental health will receive a growing share of the NHS budget, worth in real terms at least a further £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24. Additionally, the NHS also commits that funding for children and young people’s mental health services will grow faster than both overall NHS funding and total mental health spending. This means that children and young people’s mental health services will for the first time grow as a proportion of all mental health services, which will themselves also be growing faster than the NHS overall. The delivery of this commitment is supported by the annual Mental Health Investment Standard, which requires commissioners to allocate additional growth in funding for mental health.The intention, also set out in the Long Term Plan, to make further efficiencies in NHS administrative costs is intended to ensure that an increasing share of the NHS budget is invested in frontline services by, amongst other things, simplifying costly and overly bureaucratic contracting processes.

General Practitioners

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many full-time equivalent general practice clinical staff there were in (a) the NHS Sunderland Clinical Commissioning Group area, (b) the NHS England North (Cumbria and North East) region and (c) England in (i) 2016-17, (ii) 2017-18 and (iii) 2018-19.

Seema Kennedy: The data requested is available in the attached table.



Nurses and Direct Patient Care staff (FTE )16-19
(Word Document, 28.69 KB)

General Practitioners: Sunderland

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many full time equivalent GP clinical staff there were in each GP practice in the NHS Sunderland Clinical Commissioning Group area in (a) 2016-17, (b) 2017-18 and (c) 2018-19.

Seema Kennedy: The data requested is available in the attached table.



GP FTE clinical staff in  NHS Sunderland CCG 16-19
(Word Document, 108.61 KB)

Mental Health Services: Young People

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure cultural sensitivity in the provision of local mental health services for young people.

Seema Kennedy: The Government is committed to ensuring that all people who have a mental health need can access appropriate support when they need it and are treated sensitively and fairly. Commissioners are responsible for commissioning appropriate cultural provisions when planning services for their population, including children and young people.Local transformation plans cover all local areas and are expected to make explicit how health inequalities are being addressed based on their Joint Strategic Needs Assessment.The NHS Long Term Plan also sets out that more will be done to develop and imbed cultures of compassion, inclusion, and collaboration across the National Health Service. This will include developing programmes and interventions towards more diverse leadership to improve the experience of all staff and the population they serve.

Dental Services: Portsmouth

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the accessibility of dental services in Portsmouth for lower income families who do not own a car following the closure of three practices in that city.

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent comparative assessment he has made of waiting times for dental practices in the Portsmouth area following Colosseum Dental’s closure of three practices in that city.

Seema Kennedy: NHS England has a legal duty to commission primary care National Health Service dental services to meet local needs, and as part of this duty completed a comprehensive service needs assessment of Portsmouth in 2017. Whilst the assessment did not specifically take transport into account, it did consider factors such as deprivation to understand the level of dental activity needed for the area. NHS England identified Portsmouth as an area requiring additional dental activity/capacity to meet patient needs, and as a result has put in place longer term plans to procure new dental services, as well as working with existing Portsmouth dentists to provide additional capacity in the area to treat patients.

Autism and Learning Disability: Health Services

Barbara Keeley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many patient placements commissioned by NHS England through (a) central and (b) local commissioning functions on hospital wards run by independent providers for (i) learning disabilities and (ii) autism services were rated as inadequate by the Care Quality Commission in each of the last three years.

Caroline Dinenage: This data is not collected centrally. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) rating of all providers – both National Health Service and independent sector - will vary over time and between the CQC’s visits. There is a clear process to be followed should a provider receive an inadequate rating to understand the reasons for that rating and the impact on patient care in that unit. This review will inform any required commissioner action.

Mental Health Services: Children and Young People

Barbara Keeley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many patient placements commissioned by NHS England through (a) central and (b) local commissioning functions on hospital wards run by independent providers providing services for children and young people with mental health conditions were rated as inadequate by the Care Quality Commission in each of the last three years.

Caroline Dinenage: This data is not collected centrally. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) rating of all providers – both National Health Service and independent sector - will vary over time and between the CQC’s visits. There is a clear process to be followed should a provider receive an inadequate rating to understand the reasons for that rating and the impact on patient care in that unit. This review will inform any required commissioner action.

NHS: Legal Costs

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much was money was spent by (a) NHS England, (b) NHS Trusts, (c) Health Education England and (d) NHS Improvement on the services of (a) Bevan Brittan, (b) Mills & Reeve, (c) DAC Beechcroft, (d) Hempsons, (e) Capsticks and (f) Hill Dickinson in relation to employment and whistleblower disputes in each of the last five years.

Caroline Dinenage: The arm’s length bodies concerned do not collect information in a way that would enable them to answer this question in the format requested.

Arthritis: Diagnosis

Tony Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of training for GPs in the early diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis.

Tony Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of access to specialist rheumatologists.

Seema Kennedy: General practice is where most patients with musculoskeletal conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are likely to be managed, and the condition is identified as a key area of clinical knowledge in the Royal College of General Practitioners’ Advanced Knowledge Test (AKT) content guide. The AKT is a summative assessment of the knowledge base that underpins general practice in the United Kingdom within the context of the National Health Service and is a key part of general practitioner’s qualifying exams.No specific assessment has been made on the adequacy of access to specialist rheumatologists, however the National institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) Quality Standard ‘Rheumatoid arthritis in over 16s’, updated in July 2018, emphasises the need for early for urgent referral to a specialist rheumatologist on suspicion of rheumatoid arthritis within three weeks.In May 2018, a new three-year Rheumatoid and Early Inflammatory Arthritis Audit was commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership. The Audit aims to improve the quality of care for people living with inflammatory arthritis, collecting information on all new patients over the age of 16 in specialist rheumatology departments with suspected inflammatory arthritis in England and Wales using criteria derived from sources, including the NICE rheumatoid arthritis Quality Standard. This includes assessment against the NICE standard stating that patients with suspected with RA should be seen within three weeks of referral to a rheumatology service.More information can be found at the following link:www.rheumatology.org.uk/Knowledge/Excellence/AuditsThe findings of the Audit are due to be published in October 2019. However, previous Audit reports can be found at the following link:www.hqip.org.uk/national-programmes/a-z-of-nca/arthritis-rheumatoid-and-early-inflammatory

Haematological Cancer: Health Services

Colleen Fletcher: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people who have been diagnosed with blood cancer were offered a holistic needs assessment in (a) 2016, (b) 2017 and (c) 2018.

Seema Kennedy: Data is currently being analysed on the number of Holistic Needs Assessments (HNAs) being recorded by National Health Service trusts. This data only became required from April 2018 as part of the Public Health England Cancer Outcomes and Services Dataset therefore figures from before this date will be incomplete. A baseline survey of NHS trusts for January to March 2017 indicated that around 30% of blood cancer patients are offered an HNA. Since then, Cancer Alliances have been rolling out HNA along with other personalised care interventions, therefore it is expected that this figure will now be higher.

Cancer: Health Services

Colleen Fletcher: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what is routinely offered to patients as part of the holistic needs assessment to help provide emotional and psychological support during and after a cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Seema Kennedy: When a person has a Holistic Needs Assessments (HNA) they are asked to identify any concerns from a checklist which will normally include emotional, relationship and spiritual concerns. People can of course, raise concerns at any time with their general practitioner or hospital team, not just when an HNA is being done. This should lead to actions being agreed in a personalised care and support plan that includes appropriate action to support the person with their psychosocial or mental health needs. For example:- Signposting a person to peer support or cancer ‘buddies’ through patient groups, online forums etc;- Signposting a person to a cancer support centre such as Maggie’s or a Macmillan Information centre;- Providing training in relaxation techniques, problem solving and coping strategies;- Referring a person to professional support in the form of emotional and basic psychological support from a clinical nurse specialist, or counselling from a trained professional such as a clinical psychologist; and- Referring a person to professional support in the form of services for more serious mental health needs.

Cancer: Children and Young People

Colleen Fletcher: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many times on average children and young people have seen their GP before being diagnosed with (a) cancer and (b) blood cancer in each of the last five years.

Colleen Fletcher: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average stage is of (a) cancer and (b) blood cancer diagnosed in children and young people.

Seema Kennedy: The information requested is not held centrally.

Health: Children

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the findings on children's mental and physical health in Poverty dynamics and health in late childhood in the UK: evidence from the Millennium Cohort Study, published by the British Medical Journal on June 11th 2019; and if he will make a statement.

Jackie Doyle-Price: There has been no current assessment of this report. The evidence is clear that income and physical and mental health outcomes are closely associated. The NHS Long Term Plan for the National Health Service, backed by an extra £33.9 billion a year in cash terms by 2023/24, puts prevention at its heart and early intervention is key. The Government is supporting this with an additional £2.3 billion a year to expand mental health services and help ensure 345,000 more children and young people under 25 receive mental health support by 2023/24. Tackling the root cause of poverty remains a priority for this Government and some families need more support. The Government is continuing to spend £95 billion a year on working-age benefits and provide free school meals to more than one million of the country’s most disadvantaged children.

Speech Therapy: Children

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 7 of the June 2019 report of the Children’s Commissioner, We need to talk: access to speech and language therapy, what steps he is taking to ensure that health and education services jointly deliver support to prevent children from falling through the gaps between different providers of services in their area.

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 7 of the June 2019 report of the Children’s Commissioner, We need to talk: access to speech and language therapy, what plans he has to tackle local variations in spending on speech and language therapy; and how that spending will be monitored by his Department.

Caroline Dinenage: Communication support particularly benefits from a joint commissioning approach. The NHS Long Term Plan recognises the importance of speech and language therapists and proposes that local areas design and implement models of care that are age appropriate, closer to home and bring together physical and mental health services.Since May 2016, Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission are inspecting local areas on the effectiveness with which clinical commissioning groups and local authorities work together in joint commissioning arrangements, to support the needs of children with special educational needs and disability, which would include their commissioning of therapies.We are keen to work with the Children’s Commissioner’s Office on the issues of expenditure data.

Integrated Care Systems

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to issue guidance to local authorities on using the evidence in the March 2018 report Bercow: Ten Years On in their (a) Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategies and (b) contributions to Integrated Care Systems.

Caroline Dinenage: There are no current plans to issue such guidance to local authorities.

Sexually Transmitted Infections

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the correlation between reductions in public health funding and increases in rates of syphilis and gonorrhoea.

Seema Kennedy: Increases in rates of syphilis and gonorrhoea are likely to be due to a number of factors. These include increases in both the number of people attending sexual health services and the number of tests for sexually transmitted infections. Public Health England has advised that other factors include, better detection of infections and behavioural changes such as an increase in partner numbers and condomless anal intercourse, as well as, for some men who have sex with men, ‘chemsex’ and group sex facilitated by geosocial networking applications.

Genito-urinary Medicine

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will produce a national sexual health strategy.

Seema Kennedy: The development of a national sexual health strategy is a key recommendation in the Health and Social Care Committee’s report on sexual health, which was published on 2 June 2019. The Government is currently considering the report’s recommendations and will publish a formal response shortly.

Radioisotopes

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of (a) national and (b) regional supplies of radionuclide chemicals.

Seema Kennedy: The Department is not aware of any disruption to the supply of medical radionuclide chemicals (radioisotopes) at a national level. However, the Department does not hold information about the volume of any of medical radioisotopes that are currently available at a national or regional level.

Dentistry: Vacancies

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the number of vacancies for (a) dentists, (b) dental hygienists and (c) other staff in dental practices there were in (i) the UK, (ii) Hampshire and (c) Portsmouth in (A) 2018 and (B) the latest period for which figures are available.

Seema Kennedy: Information is not held on vacancies for dentists or dental hygienists or other staff working dental practices in England.

Health Services: Innovation

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the budget of the Small Business Research Initiative Healthcare was in each financial year since 2009-10.

Caroline Dinenage: The Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) Healthcare has been the remit of NHS England since 2013 and the budget for SBRI Healthcare for the financial years since 2013/14 is shown in the following table. Records of the budgets prior to the programme being owned by NHS England are not held.2013/142014/152015/162016/172017/182018/192019/20£10 million£20 million£20 million£12.9 million£12.9 million£17.9 million£5.2 million Note:The figures relate to SBRI Healthcare and not SBRI budgets for other programmes. The difference in funding between 2018/19 and 2019/20 is due to a change in suppliers for the programme’s Programme Management function. This means extra funding was provided in 2018/19 to prepare for transition between suppliers, and a reduction in 2019/20 until the new supplier is fully established.

NHS: Billing

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many invoices were sent to NHS patients as a result of proactive data sharing by the Home Office.

Stephen Hammond: The Department of Health and Social Care does not hold information on how many invoices were sent to National Health Service patients as a result of proactive data sharing by the Home Office.

Department for International Development

India: Droughts

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps his Department is taking to help victims of drought in India.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The Government of India neither seeks nor accepts international assistance for disaster relief. The State and the Central governments of India have taken steps to provide relief to those affected due to drought. The UK ended traditional aid to India in 2015 and we no longer give any money to the Government of India. As part of our ongoing investment and technical assistance programme in India, DFID is supporting Naireeta Services Private Limited for Bhungroo (Rainwater Storage Innovation Technology) which helps farmers store water during seasons of high rainfall to be available in time of drought.

Sudan: Human Rights

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what processes his Department has put in place to support the (a) promotion of human rights and (b) prevention of atrocities in Sudan.

Harriett Baldwin: The UK government is deeply concerned by the use of violence by the Sudanese military under the command of the Transitional Military Council against peaceful protestors and the human rights violations and abuses surrounding the disruption of the protest site on 3 June. On 6 June, the Minister for Africa summoned the Sudanese Ambassador to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to express our grave concerns at the use of all forms of violence, including sexual violence against civilians by the Sudanese authorities. The UK strongly supports calls for an independent international inquiry into the events of 3-4 June so those responsible can be held to account. We also continue to emphasise the importance of accountability for the human rights abuses committed by Sudan’s former regime.The UK is committed to supporting international community efforts to bring peace to Sudan’s conflict areas, where there have been widespread atrocities in the past. We hold the pen on the mandate for the United Nations/African Union hybrid peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID), and provide support to community-based peacebuilding programmes in Sudan’s conflict areas. The humanitarian situation in Sudan is increasingly fragile and access is threatened by violent attacks on aid workers, facilities and supplies. The UK is working closely with our partners across the United Nations and international NGOs to continue to provide life-saving support to those affected and to pressure the authorities in Sudan to fulfil their obligations under international humanitarian law and international human rights law.

Department for International Development: Adam Smith International

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much funding his Department paid to Adam Smith International in (a) 2017, (b) 2018 and (c) 2019.

Rory Stewart: The table below shows the value of spend with Adam Smith International in (a) 2017, (b) 2018 and (c) 2019.Calendar Year Procurement spend 2017£94,581,7792018£65,569,9322019£10,546,598Grand Total £170,698,308

Department for International Development: Adam Smith International

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many new contracts his Department awarded to Adam Smith International in (a) 2017, (b) 2018 and (c) 2019; and what the value was of each of those contracts.

Rory Stewart: DFID did not award Adam Smith International (ASI) any contracts between 2017 and 2018. During 2019, they were awarded one separate contract, Acorn (Nigeria) at the contractual value of £4.5m.

Department for International Development: Adam Smith International

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what criteria for future funding eligibility were set by his Department and Adam Smith International at the time that organisation withdrew from his Department's funding opportunities in February 2017; and whether those criteria were met by February 2018.

Rory Stewart: At the time of Adam Smith international's (ASI’s) voluntary withdrawal from DFID procurements in January 2017, our position made it clear that ASI, along with all other suppliers, will only be eligible to bid on future funding if they were able to demonstrate their ability to adhere to the high standards of integrity expected from government contractors, whilst delivering the best results for the world’s poorest and value for money for UK taxpayers. As of February 2018, following more than a year of voluntary withdrawal from procurement, ASI resumed bidding for work with HMG. DFID is legally obliged to consider all bids from ASI in full compliance with the Procurement Regulations, and we do so in accordance with the fair and transparent tender requirements that were advertised, as is the case with any bidder.

Department for International Development: Adam Smith International and Oxfam

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether (a) Oxfam International and (b) Adam Smith International are eligible to bid for contracts under his Department’s International Multi-Disciplinary (IMDP) Framework Agreement.

Rory Stewart: In 2018, Oxfam and Adam Smith International (ASI) both successfully bid for the International Multi-Disciplinary (IMDP) Framework Agreement and were awarded a place on the framework agreement. There were 79 successful suppliers in total across 20 thematic spend categories. Both ASI and Oxfam are eligible to bid for contracts under the IMDP framework.

Department for Education

Children: Day Care

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the number of private voluntary and independent childcare settings in each local authority area.

Nadhim Zahawi: This is a matter for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman. I have asked her to write to the hon. Member for Manchester Central and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Academies: Finance

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will list for each multi-academy trust that has had deficit funding approved (a) the amount of funding approved, (b) whether it is linked to a financial turnaround plan, (c) the period it covers, (d) the date on which it was approved by the Education and Skills Funding Agency or the Department and (e) the amount that is recoverable and non-recoverable in each case.

Nadhim Zahawi: Academy trusts have primary responsibility for their own financial affairs and where the Education and Skills Funding Agency intervene, we work with each trust to put in place a recovery process that underpins education provision with strong financial management and oversight. This can include the provision of deficit funding, issuing a financial notice to improve or, in the most serious cases, termination of the Funding Agreement.Where we have provided deficit funding as part of this process, this information is reflected in trusts’ accounts. Attached is a document setting out deficit funding information for the most recent year available, financial year 2017-18. The department records deficit funding by the academy that funding is associated with and this is also reflected in the attached document.As of March 2018, the total number of academies for which deficit funding was agreed in financial year 2017-18, reflects less than 1% of all open academies, and less than 0.2% of the total funding allocated to academies for the 2017-18 academic year.



263155_table
(PDF Document, 165.68 KB)

Schools: Knives

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the number of children caught with a knife at school in each of the last 10 years in (a) the UK and (b) Coventry.

Nadhim Zahawi: The information requested is not held centrally. The department does not collect data on the number of children caught in possession of knives. The day-to-day running of schools, including all matters relating to pupils’ health and safety, is a matter for head teachers and their management teams. They are best placed to make decisions on how to ensure all pupils and staff are kept safe in schools.

Schools: Finance

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to his Answer of 7 March 2019 to Question 228138, if he will publish any assessment carried out on the effect on disabled children of any decision to not allow local authorities to move funding from the schools block into the high needs block.

Nadhim Zahawi: We are keen for funding allocated through the schools’ block to be passed on to schools, which is why as part of the introduction of the national funding formula (NFF), we made the decision to ring-fence this funding from 2018-19 onwards. However, in recognition of the importance of local flexibility, we have allowed local authorities to transfer of up to 0.5% out of the schools funding block of the dedicated schools grant to the high needs funding block, with the agreement of their schools forum. We produced an equalities impact assessment alongside the NFF, which considered potential impacts on children with protected characteristics, which can be accessed at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/648520/NFF_Equalities_Impact-Assessment.pdf.Exceptionally, local authorities can apply for transfers outside these rules. Within the schools revenue funding operational guide (paragraph 138): https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pre-16-schools-funding-guidance-for-2019-to-2020, we set out what evidence we expect a local authority to present to their schools forum to support any proposals to transfer funding from the schools block.In submitting an exceptional case to transfer funding from the schools block, local authorities have to carry out an assessment of the equalities implications of their proposal. These equalities assessments, the published equalities impact assessment (link above) and the quality of the evidence provided by local authorities are all taken into account in the evaluation of exceptional cases put forward by local authorities.

Apprentices: Minimum Wage

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions he has had with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on increasing the apprenticeship rates of the National Minimum Wage.

Anne Milton: As Minister of State for Apprenticeships and Skills, I work with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on the annual remit for the Low Pay Commission (LPC), who are responsible for making recommendations to the government about minimum rates of pay including the Apprenticeship Minimum Wage.The government implemented in full the LPC’s 2019 recommendations. These included an apprentice rate as well as taking into account the long-term benefits that apprentices derive from training, the needs of employers and individual sectors and wider labour market pressures.The current Apprentice National Minimum Wage rate rose to £3.90 per hour in April 2019, up from £3.70 per hour. This is a 5.4% increase and the apprentice rate is now at a record high in nominal and real terms. The LPC estimate that this rise will benefit up to 36,000 apprentices.

Apprentices

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) women and (b) men in each local authority area in England started an apprenticeship in each sector subject area in 2017-18.

Anne Milton: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 6 June 2019 to Question 259326.For additional information on apprenticeship starts by geography or learner characteristics, the further education data library can be accessed at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fe-data-library-apprenticeships.

Pre-school Education: Closures

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education,  pursuant to the Answer of 8 March 2019 to Question 226665, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of local authority budgets to fulfil the statutory requirement of alternative nursery provisions of equal quality, in the event that a Maintained Nursery School closes.

Nadhim Zahawi: Maintained nursery schools (MNS) make a valuable contribution to improving the lives of some of our most disadvantaged children. There is a presumption against their closure. This does not mean that they can never close, but if they do, any replacement provision must be of equal quality, preserve expertise and be more accessible and convenient for parents.Whether or not an MNS closes is a matter for local authorities. However, the presumption against their closure includes a duty on local authorities to assess whether the alternative provision available is of equal or greater quality. No assessment has been made of the adequacy of local authority budgets to do this.

Apprentices: Taxation

Tracy Brabin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has made an assessment of proposals by ScreenSkills to reform the apprenticeship levy to (a) increase the number of paid apprenticeships in the film and TV industry and (b) enable apprenticeship training agencies to employ and pay the wages of apprentices and to arrange apprentice training with a number of different engagers on short-term projects; and if he will make a statement.

Anne Milton: We have a well-established working relationship with ScreenSkills and welcome their feedback on the impact of our apprenticeship reforms on the film and television industries. This, together with feedback from our broader engagement with employers, is informing our ongoing evaluation of the impact of the reforms in England and our work to promote apprenticeships under the Creative Industries Sector Deal.In my capacity as the Minister of State for Apprenticeships and Skills, I met the CEO of ScreenSkills in October 2018 to discuss their work to support the take-up of apprenticeships in the UK’s world-leading film and television industries. Officials from the Education and Skills Funding Agency continue to meet representatives of the organisation.Levy-paying employers can already transfer funds to an Apprenticeship Training Agency, which acts as the apprentice’s employer. We recognise that this model can provide a valuable opportunity for employers, including those in the film and television industries and the creative sector more generally, to realise the benefits of apprenticeships for their business. We are continuing to engage with ScreenSkills to explore how such arrangements could support the creative industries.In response to feedback from employers in a range of sectors, we have recently raised the cap on the amount of funds that levy-payers can transfer from 10% to 25% of the annual value of funds entering their apprenticeship service accounts.

Department for Education: Procurement

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the total value is of the contract put out to tender by his Department titled Income Contingent Repayment Student Loan Monetisation Programme: Financial Communication Services.

Chris Skidmore: The Income Contingent Repayment Student Loan Monetisation Programme, which will run for the period of 2022-23, aims to raise £15bn for the Exchequer. The value of the financial communication services contract is subject to a procurement exercise but will not exceed £115,000 for the term of the contract. The financial communication services are being tendered on a demand-led basis, meaning that the government has no obligation to use the contract or incur any expense.

Pre-school Education: Closures

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support his Department provides to local authorities, in the event of the closure of a maintained nursery school to ensure continued educational provision of equal quality.

Nadhim Zahawi: Maintained nursery schools (MNSs) make a valuable contribution to improving the lives of some of our most disadvantaged children. There is a presumption against their closure. This does not mean that they can never close, but if they do, any replacement provision must be of equal quality, preserve expertise and be more accessible and convenient for parents.Whether or not a MNS closes is a matter for local authorities, but the presumption against their closure includes a duty on local authorities to assess whether the alternative provision available is of equal or greater quality. Closure arrangements, such as the transfer of children and staff, are for local authorities to manage and the Department for Education is not involved in them.

Teachers

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the eligibility criteria for remission of student debt are if a person trains or returns to become a teacher; and what the rationale is for (a) those criteria and (b) the geographical scope of the application of those criteria.

Nick Gibb: The Government announced the Teachers’ Student Loan Reimbursement scheme in October 2017, fulfilling our manifesto commitment to help new teachers stay in the profession by forgiving their student loan repayments. The scheme is a pilot that is testing the impact of offering this incentive on teacher retention. It is aimed at early career teachers of languages and science who qualified since 2013/14, and is available in specific local authorities. Information on the scheme is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/teachers-student-loan-reimbursement-guidance-for-teachers-and-schools.The scheme has been designed in this way because retention is most challenging early in teachers' careers, and because science and languages are in high demand by schools.The local authorities where teachers’ student loan reimbursement applies have high need for teachers. This is determined by the 'Defining Achieving Excellence Areas' methodology, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/defining-achieving-excellence-areas-methodology.High need areas not included in the scheme are in the control group, which will enable the Department to conduct a robust evaluation.

Ministry of Justice

Hull Prison: Crimes of Violence

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many assaults on staff there were at HMP Hull in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners were assaulted at HMP Hull in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many serious assaults on staff there were at HMP Hull in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners were seriously assaulted at HMP Hull in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many assaults on staff at HMP Wormwood Scrubs there have been in each of the past 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many assaults on prisoners at HMP Wormwood Scrubs there have been in each of the past 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many serious assaults there have been on staff at HMP Wormwood Scrubs in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many serious assaults on prisoners at HMP Wormwood Scrubs there have been in each of the past 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many assaults on staff there have been at HMP Ranby in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many assaults on prisoners there have been at HMP Ranby in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many serious assaults on staff there have been at HMP Ranby in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many serious assaults on prisoners there have been at HMP Ranby in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many assaults on prisoners there have been at HMP Humber in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many serious assaults on staff there have been at HMP Humber each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many serious assaults on prisoners there have been at HMP Humber in each the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many assaults on staff there have been at HMP Isis in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many assaults on prisoners there have been at HMP Isis in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many serious assaults on staff there have been at HMP Isis in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many serious assaults on prisoners there have been at HMP Isis in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many serious assaults on prisoners there have been at HMP Leeds in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many assaults on staff there have been at HMP Wealston in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many assaults there have been on prisoners at HMP Wealston in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many serious assaults on staff there have been at HMP Wealston in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many serious assaults on prisoners there have been at HMP Wealston in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many assaults on staff there have been at HMP Moorland in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many assaults there have been on prisoners at HMP Moorland in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many serious assaults on staff there have been at HMP Moorland in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many serious assaults on prisoners there have been at HMP Moorland in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many assaults on staff there have been at HMP Nottingham in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many assaults on prisoners there have been at HMP Nottingham in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many serious assaults on staff there have been at HMP Nottingham in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many serious assaults on prisoners there have been at HMP Nottingham in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many assaults on staff there have been at HMP Humber in each the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many assaults on staff there have been at HMP Lindholme in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many assaults on prisoners there have been at HMP Lindholme in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many serious assaults on prisoners there have been at HMP Lindholme in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many assaults on staff there have been at HMP Leeds in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many assaults on prisoners there have been at HMP Leeds in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many serious assaults on staff there have been at HMP Leeds in each of the last 12 months.

Robert Buckland: Holding answer received on 11 June 2019



The Government publishes its Safety in Custody National Statistics bulletin on a quarterly basis, which covers deaths, self-harm and assaults in prison custody in England and Wales. The latest publication is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/safety-in-custody-quarterly-update-to-december-2018. Information about assaults and serious assaults on staff up to December 2018 can be found by selecting the relevant table in the ‘Assaults in prison custody 2000 to 2018’ link. The table is set out by prison and year, and monthly breakdowns can be found by using the ‘+’ and ‘-‘ functions at the top of the table. assaults on staff table 3.15assaults on prisoners table 3.16serious assaults on staff table 3.18serious assaults on prisoners table 3.19 Violence in prisons remains unacceptably high but there are early signs that we are making progress. Eight of the jails involved in the ‘10 Prisons Project’ saw falls in the final quarter of 2018 – four of them by more than 25% - while the number of assaults across the estate reduced by 11%. Across the prison estate we have invested an additional £70m in a raft of measures designed to improve safety, security and decency – including body-scanners, enhanced searches and new investigative teams – while the 4,700 additional staff we have recruited since October 2016 are making a real difference.

Hull Prison: Self-harm

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents of self-harm there have been at HMP Hull in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents of self-harm there have been at HMP Wormwood Scrubs in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents of self-harm there have been at HMP Ranby in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents of self-harm there were at HMP Humber in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents of self-harm there have been at HMP Isis in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents of self-harm there have been at HMP Leeds in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents of self-harm there have been at HMP Wealston in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents of self-harm there have been at HMP Moorland in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents of self-harm there have been at HMP Nottingham in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents of self-harm there have been at HMP Lindholme in each of the last 12 months.

Robert Buckland: Holding answer received on 11 June 2019



The Government publishes its Safety in Custody National Statistics bulletin on a quarterly basis, which covers deaths, self-harm and assaults in prison custody in England and Wales. The latest publication is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/safety-in-custody-quarterly-update-to-december-2018. Information about incidents of self-harm up to December 2018 can be found by selecting table 2.13 in the ‘Self-harm in prison custody 2000 to 2018’ link. The table is set out by prison and year, and monthly breakdowns can be found by using the ‘+’ and ‘-‘ functions at the top of the table. We are taking steps to reduce self-harm and self-inflicted death levels by rolling out improved suicide and self-harm training for new and existing staff. Over 25,000 staff have received some training and over 14,000 have received training in all six modules. Violence in prisons remains unacceptably high but there are early signs that we are making progress. Eight of the jails involved in the ‘10 Prisons Project’ saw falls in the final quarter of 2018 – four of them by more than 25% - while the number of assaults across the estate reduced by 11%. Across the prison estate we have invested an additional £70m in a raft of measures designed to improve safety, security and decency – including body-scanners, enhanced searches and new investigative teams – while the 4,700 additional staff we have recruited since October 2016 are making a real difference.

Wormwood Scrubs Prison: Drugs

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of random tests returned positive results for psychoactive substances at HMP Wormwood Scrubs in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on how many occasions illegal drugs were found at HMP Wormwood Scrubs in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of random tests returned positive results for psychoactive substances at HMP Ranby in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents there were where drugs were found at HMP Ranby in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of random tests returned positive results for psychoactive substances at HMP Isis in each of the past 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents there have been where drugs were found at HMP Isis in each of the past 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of random tests returned positive results for psychoactive substances at HMP Leeds was in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents there have been where drugs were found at HMP Leeds in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of random tests have resulted in a positive result for psychoactive substances at HMP Wealston in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents there have been where drugs were found at HMP Wealston in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of random tests returned a positive result for psychoactive substances at HMP Moorland in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents there have been where drugs were found at HMP Moorland in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of random tests returned a positive result for psychoactive substances at HMP Nottingham in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents there have been where drugs were found at HMP Nottingham in each the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of random tests returned a positive result for psychoactive substances at HMP Hull in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents there were where drugs were found at HMP Hull in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion random tests have returned positive results for psychoactive substances at HMP Lindholme in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents there have been where drugs were found at HMP Lindholme in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of random tests returned positive results for psychoactive substances at HMP Humber in each of the last 12 months.

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents there have been where drugs were found at HMP Humber in each of the last 12 months.

Robert Buckland: Holding answer received on 11 June 2019



The Government publishes an Annual Digest that provides a range of detailed statistics and measures for prisons and probation for the financial year, including data on drug tests and finds. The latest publication covering the 17/18 financial year is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/annual-hm-prison-and-probation-service-digest-2017-to-2018. Figures on the proportion of positive results for random mandatory drugs tests and the number of incidents where drugs were found for the 17/18 financial year are provided in the table below: Positive Random Mandatory Drugs Tests and Drug Finds for the 12 months to March 2018PrisonProportion of positive results for psychoactive substancesNumber of incidents where drugs were foundHMP Hull16%232HMP Humber26%277HMP Isis15%144HMP Leeds23%456HMP Lindholme26%208HMP Moorland25%133HMP Nottingham21%120HMP Ranby29%274HMP Wealstun35%86HMP Wormwood Scrubs11%73 We do not publish monthly breakdowns, however, further information about the proportion of positive results for random mandatory drugs tests can be found by selecting table 7.4 in the ‘Chapter 7 tables – Random mandatory drug testing’ link’. Further information about the number of incidents where drugs were found can be found by selecting table 9.2 in the ‘Chapter 9 tables – Finds in prison’ link. These prisons are also part of the 10 Prisons Project which aims to reduce violence in 10 of our most challenging prisons by reducing the supply of drugs; restoring basic decency and providing the training and support for prison officers to challenge the behaviour that drives violence. The project received an initial £10 million funding to improve security and decency, and bolster leadership capability over a 12-month period.

Prisons: Security

Mr Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisons have a working and operational backscatter x-ray body scanner.

Robert Buckland: Holding answer received on 11 June 2019



We are taking urgent and decisive action to stop contraband, such as drugs and mobile telephones, from entering our prisons. These items pose a significant threat to safety and security. X-ray body scanners allow prison staff to detect items hidden inside prisoners’ bodies. As part of the Government’s £70 million investment in safety, security and decency, we are installing x-ray body scanners in a number of additional prisons, including the 10 Prisons Project and the long-term and high security estate. These are some of our most challenging prisons and are more likely to face attempts by prisoners to hide contraband inside their bodies in light of other security measures already in place. To date, x-ray scanners have been installed in 25 prisons.

Offender Behaviour Programmes

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners have been sanctioned for (a) not attending and (b) breaching an offending behaviour programme which does not have an impact evaluation.

Robert Buckland: Attending an accredited offending behaviour programme (OBP) in custody is voluntary, meaning there are not any automatic sanctions for non-attendance. Prisoners who exhibit unacceptable behaviours whilst involved in a programme will face standard disciplinary procedures. Removal from programmes, however, can also take place due to behaviour unrelated to participation in a programme. Sanctions can be implemented through the adjudication process or in relation to Incentives and Earned Privileges (IEP). In order to collect the information requested a matching exercise using prison population and adjudication databases would be required to identify each individual prisoner who was punished under the Prison Rules. As a result, the data could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Accredited Programmes can also be part of a Community Sentence or a Licence Condition, in which case offenders can be breached or recalled to custody for not being compliant. Data relating to breach and recall in these specific instances is not available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Prisons: Contracts

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 20 May 2019 to Question 254234 on Prisons: Contracts, on what date version 1.7 of the document, Model for operational delivery: new resettlement prison was produced.

Robert Buckland: Version 1.7 of the document Model for Operational Delivery: New Resettlement Prison was published on 29 November 2018, in line with the launch of the Prison Operator Framework Competition.

Legal Representation: Public Interest

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many applications have been made on behalf of bereaved families for Exceptional Case Funding for legal representation at inquests under the public interest test in each of the last three years.

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many applications made on behalf of bereaved families for Exceptional Case Funding for legal representation at inquests under the public interest test were granted on first application in each of the last three years.

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many applications made on behalf of bereaved families for Exceptional Case Funding for legal representation at inquests under the public interest test were granted on appeal in each of the last three years.

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much funding has been granted to successful applicants for Exceptional Case Funding for legal representation at inquests under the public interest test in each of the last three years.

Paul Maynard: These questions could only be answered at disproportionate cost.

Convictions: Sentencing

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people who previously had (a) no, (b) between one and four, (c) between five and nine, (d) between 10 and 15, (e) between 16 and 25, (f) between 26 and 50, (g) between 51 and 75, (h) between 76 and 100 and (i) 101 or more convictions, were convicted in each of the years since 2007, but did not receive an immediate custodial sentence.

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many offenders sentenced to immediate custody previously had (a) zero, (b) between one and four, (c) between five and nine, (d) between 10 and 15, (e) between 16 and 25, (f) between 26 and 50, (g) between 51 and 75, (h) between 76 and 100 and (i) 101 or more convictions in each year since 2007.

Robert Buckland: The information requested is provided in the tables attached with this answer. These tables include data, covering the period 2007 – 2018, on:The number of offenders with a specified number of previous convictions who were convicted of an offence and not sentenced to immediate custody.The number of offenders with a specified number of previous convictions who were convicted of an offence and sentenced to immediate custody.



Table
(Excel SpreadSheet, 19.08 KB)

Reoffenders: Community Orders

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 10 April to Question 239207 on the Answer of 9 May to Question 246971, how many offenders re-offended while being the subject of a community order; and how many offences of each type were committed by those offenders in each year since 2007.

Robert Buckland: We do not hold reoffending rates based on whether offenders are the subject of a community order but instead hold data based on those who have started a community order in a given period. As such, we cannot tell whether an offender is still subject to a community order at the time of their reoffence. Please see the available data in the table provided. There is persuasive evidence showing community sentences, in certain circumstances, are more effective than short custodial sentences in reducing reoffending. The MoJ study ‘The impact of short custodial sentences, community orders and suspended sentence orders on re-offending’ published in 2015 involved around 350,000 sentencing occasions over 4 years and used 130 different variables to construct matched groups of offenders and examine the effect of short sentences relative to community sentences. This study found a reduction of around 3 percentage points in proven reoffences if offenders receiving sentences of less than 12 months were to get a community order instead. This is statistically significant and equates to around 30,000 proven reoffences in total over a one-year period. This means fewer victims of crime. Unless we tackle the underlying causes of offending, we cannot protect the public from being victims of crime. Effective community orders can address offenders’ behaviour, answer their mental health and alcohol or drug misuse needs, and provide reparation for the benefit of the wider community.



Table
(Excel SpreadSheet, 17.43 KB)

Reoffenders: Sentencing

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average number of (a) community orders, (b) suspended sentences and (c) previous custodial sentences given to an offender sentenced to immediate custody was in each year since 2007.

Robert Buckland: Data on the average number of previous specified sentences received by offenders who were sentenced to immediate custody, covering the period 2007 – 2018, can be viewed in the table.



263846 Response Table
(Excel SpreadSheet, 11.15 KB)

Reoffenders: Sentencing

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of offenders sentenced to immediate custody had (a) zero, (b) between one and four, (c) between five and nine, (d) between 10 and 15, (e) between 16 and 25, (f) between 26 and 50 and (g) more than 50 previous community orders; and how many and what proportion of offenders sentenced to immediate custody had (i) zero, (ii) between one and four, (iii) between five and nine, (iv) between 10 and 15, (v) between 16 and 25, (vi) between 26 and 50 and (vii) more than 50 suspended sentences, in each year since 2007.

Robert Buckland: The information requested is provided in the table attached with this answer. The table includes data, covering the period 2007 – 2018, on:The number of offenders with a specified number of previous community sentences who were sentenced to immediate custody.The proportion of offenders with a specified number of previous community sentences who were sentenced to immediate custody.The number of offenders with a specified number of suspended sentences who were sentenced to immediate custody.The proportion of offenders with a specified number of suspended sentences who were sentenced to immediate custody.



Table
(Excel SpreadSheet, 13.71 KB)

Family Courts: Reviews

Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans the Government has to conduct evidence-gathering sessions with domestic abuse survivors and charities as part of its review into family courts.

Edward Argar: On 21 May 2019 we announced a public call for evidence led by a panel of experts to gather evidence on how the family courts protect children and parents in cases of domestic abuse and other serious offences. The inaugural panel meeting took place on Friday 14 June 2019. We will shortly be announcing its planned approach for engaging domestic abuse survivors and other key stakeholders, as well the composition of the panel and agreed objectives for the call for evidence. The panel members represent key parties to the issue and will provide expertise from across the Family Justice System. Included are representatives from the Judiciary, academia, social care, policy officials and third sector organisations which represent and advocate for survivors of domestic abuse. It is vital that this call for evidence can contribute to real improvements to the Family Justice System to protect victims and their families. For this reason, the experiences of domestic abuse survivors will be central to the evidence gathered by the panel.

Prisoners: Rehabilitation

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of offenders who received Sentences of Imprisonment for Public Protection have been refused access to at least one offending behaviour course during their sentence in the last five years.

Robert Buckland: As with all prisoners, those serving Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences are not refused access to offending behaviour courses based on their sentence type. We use risk, needs and responsivity principles to help us target the right programmes for the right people. This ensures that the level of support provided by a programme matches a person’s risk of reoffending and that the content covers the areas a person needs to address to reduce further offending. All prisoners, including those serving IPP sentences, have their suitability for any accredited programmes considered as part of their wider sentence plan. A wide range of accredited programmes are available in custody and these are refreshed annually based on prisoner needs and demand. IPPs are one of the groups prioritised for participation on suitable programmes. However, completion of accredited programmes is not a mandatory requirement in order for IPP prisoners to secure release. Information related to the number of offenders serving an IPP that have been referred, but not found suitable for courses could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Young Offenders: Children in Care

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of looked-after children who were released from custody in January 2019 had a resettlement care plan confirmed 10 working days prior to their release from custody.

Edward Argar: The information requested can only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Data on looked-after children (LAC) released from custody would require the examination of information technology systems to specifically establish and validate appropriate records for resettlement plans within 10 days of release.

Prisoners' Release: Homelessness

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 10 June 2019 to Question 260071, what estimate his Department has made of the cost of establishing how many children were released from prison into homelessness in each year since 2010.

Edward Argar: Question 259337 dealt with the release of children into homelessness. In order to answer that question, there would be a need to check the c.20,300 individual records of children released since 2010 to obtain their accommodation status. We estimate that it would take around two minutes to check each record, which equates to a cost of approximately £16,900. This does not include the time required to engage with Local Authorities where necessary.

Children in Care: Police Custody

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many looked-after children were held in custody on 1 January 2019.

Edward Argar: The information requested can only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Data on looked-after children (LAC) held in custody would require the examination of separate information technology systems to establish and validate appropriate records.

Courts: Working Hours

Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of days sat by Crown Courts in England in the financial years (a) 2015-16, (b) 2016-17 and (c) 2017-18.

Paul Maynard: The number of days sat by Crown Courts in England in the financial years 2015/16, 2016/17 and 2017/18 are set out in the table below: Financial YearDays sat2015/2016104,6472016/2017103,3382017/201898,616 Note: Cases include all case types (e.g. trials, appeals, sentences etc.)Although care is taken when processing and analysing the data, the details are subject to inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale management system and is the best data that is available. Waiting times for trials in the Crown Court in 2018 were the lowest since 2014 - despite the challenge of increasingly complex cases - and the number of trial cases in hand is the lowest since 2000. We continue to review demand and performance in the Crown Court to ensure it has the resources it requires.

Treasury

National Insurance: Young People

Mr Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what reports he has received on young people not receiving their national insurance number on time; and what the reason is for delays in sending out national insurance numbers.

Jesse Norman: HMRC automatically issues letters to children advising them of their National Insurance number (NINo) as they approach their 16th birthday. Following a change in the way in which HMRC identifies these children, there was a delay in the issue of some NINo letters. Individuals with concerns can contact HMRC’s helpline on 0300 200 3500.

Customs Declaration Services Programme

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Customs Declaration Service is fully functional.

Jesse Norman: HMRC released the first Customs Declaration Service (CDS) import functions in August 2018 and started to release export functions at the end of March. Some businesses are using CDS and all will migrate to the new service once full functionality is in place. The existing CHIEF system will remain available to use until all businesses have migrated to CDS.

Winter Fuel Payments

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the administrative cost of means testing winter fuel payments.

Elizabeth Truss: The Confidence and Supply Agreement with the Democratic and Unionist Party, sets out that there will be no change to the universal nature of the Winter Fuel Payment.

EU Grants and Loans: Easington

Grahame Morris: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much in EU funding Easington constituency has received in each of the last 10 years.

Elizabeth Truss: The recently published Annual Statement on European Finances includes detailed information of the UK’s receipts in Annex D. It can be found online at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/806613/HMT_2018_Annual_Statement_on_European_Finances_web.pdf HM Treasury does not hold information on the total level of European Union funding awarded to individual constituencies.

EU Grants and Loans: Easington

Grahame Morris: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to guarantee funding allocations to Easington constituency after the UK leaves the EU which (a) match or (b) exceed the current level of EU funding.

Elizabeth Truss: The Government has highlighted the UK’s intention to explore a future relationship with the European Union, as well as a commitment to consider programmes which are in line with the UK’s priorities on science, education and innovation such as Horizon 2020 and Erasmus and which will benefit all parts of the UK.The Government has also pledged to domestically replace some EU programmes such as structural funds, fisheries and agriculture if/when needed. The Government has committed to establish the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) after we have left the European Union and EU Structural Funds. The Government will put in place new, domestic, long-term arrangements to support the UK’s fishing industry from 2021, through the creation of four new schemes comparable to EMFF to deliver funding for each nation. Details of the operation and priorities of both Funds will be announced following the Spending Review.

London Capital and Finance

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to establish an ad hoc compensation scheme for people affected by the collapse of London Capital and Finance.

John Glen: The administrators for London Capital & Finance (LCF) are currently estimating recoveries for investors affected by LCF’s failure.The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), as the compensation scheme of last resort, can only provide compensation for claims connected with certain types of regulated activities. They are working closely with LCF’s administrators and the Financial Conduct Authority to understand more about LCF’s activities and whether there are grounds for compensation.If there are circumstances that give rise to potentially valid claims, the FSCS will communicate this on their website. They have invited LCF investors to register for updates on their website. More information on this can be found at https://www.fscs.org.uk/failed-firms/lcf/.

Financial Services Compensation Scheme

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of making mini-bonds subject to the provisions of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing Government regulations on mini-bonds.

John Glen: On 23 May, the Treasury formally directed the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to launch an independent investigation into the events at London Capital & Finance (LCF), a mini-bond issuer that entered administration on 30 January 2018, and approved the FCA’s appointment of Dame Elizabeth Gloster to lead it. Alongside the independent investigation, the Government announced it would review a number of the wider policy questions raised by the events at LCF.

Taxation

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of trends in the level of carried interest as a result of provisions on that interest in the Finance Act 2016.

Jesse Norman: Under the provisions introduced in Finance Act 2016, amounts determined to be income-based carried interest (IBCI) are subject to income tax and NICs and reported as part of profits from an individual’s business activities. No separate analysis of IBCI is available.

Public Sector Debt

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer,  what the public sector net debt was in May 2017; and what estimate he has made of level of that debt by May 2022.

Elizabeth Truss: In May 2017 public sector net debt was 85% of GDP.Forecasts for the level of debt are produced by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility. The OBR forecast debt levels at the end of March in each year, and do not provide an estimate of the debt level for each month.Debt has begun its first sustained fall in a generation, three years before required by the fiscal rules. At Spring Statement 2019 the OBR forecast the level of public sector net debt in March 2022 will have fallen to 74.9% of GDP.

Customs

Tom Brake: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 11 June to Questions 258889 and 258888, what steps his Department is taking to combat delays on Customs House clearance times for packages sent from EU member states.

Jesse Norman: HMRC has been working closely with the industry in the event the UK leaves the EU without a deal, to ensure goods keep moving and avoid delays, while protecting security and revenue.

Financial Services

Dr David Drew: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policy of the recommendations of the First Comprehensive Report by the Network for Greening the Financial System, co-authored by the Bank of England, published on 17 April 2019.

John Glen: The government welcomes the report from the Network for Greening the Financial System and recognises that climate change is a source of financial risks. The government will publish a Green Finance Strategy this year that will set-out its approach to greening financial systems. The government has considered recommendations from the report as part of this process and is working closely with the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority.

Public Sector: Procurement

Sir Patrick McLoughlin: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to oral contribution of the Chief Secretary to the Treasury at the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee meeting on 4 June what the selection process will be for the appointment of the delivery expert; and when that appointment will be announced.

Elizabeth Truss: The Treasury will conduct a zero-based review of capital at the next Spending Review. It will include an assessment panel of Chief Economists from across government departments, who will provide technical assistance and expertise to Treasury officials scrutinising capital spending bids. These top economists will bring significant experience and expertise in appraising investment in many different sectors, covering economic and social infrastructure. The panel will also draw on the IPA, and functional expertise built up since 2015. The assessment panel will be formed ahead of the Spending Review.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Buildings: Insulation

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many letters his Department is planning to send regarding the ACM Cladding fund; and if he will publish the (a) names of the residential buildings and (b) constituencies in which those buildings are located that his Department is sending such letters to.

Kit Malthouse: We have now written to all building owners eligible for the private sector remediation fund. We are not publishing details which could identify buildings because of the risk to public safety.

Homelessness

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of recent research by St Mungo’s and Homeless Link showing reductions in local authority funding and in spending on homelessness between 2008-09 and 2017-18 and and an increase in rough sleeping since 2010.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: This Government is clear that nobody should be without a roof over their head. That is why we have committed to ending rough sleeping for good, with the aim of halving it by 2022.Last summer we published the cross-government Rough Sleeping Strategy. This sets out an ambitious £100 million package to help people who sleep rough now, but also puts in place the structures that will end rough sleeping once and for all. The Government has now committed over £1.2 billion to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping over the spending review period.We are giving serious consideration to the findings of the report from St Mungo’s and Homeless Link. Housing-related support services are a local government responsibility. To deepen our understanding, we are undertaking a review of housing-related support services in order to build a comprehensive picture of current arrangements and how support and housing fit together.We also know that we need to build more social homes, which will help us to achieve our goal of preventing homelessness. The Government has made £9 billion available through the Affordable Homes Programme to March 2022, to deliver 250,000 new affordable homes of a wide range of tenures - including social rent. The expanded programme will provide homes to meet the housing needs of a range of people in different circumstances and different housing markets – building the right homes in the right places.We understand the importance of giving local areas security around funding. The Chancellor has said that there will be a spending review this year. Decisions about the future of homelessness funding, along with all other government funding, will be made at this point. Ministers have made clear that homelessness and rough sleeping are a key priority for this Government. We are working with other government departments to assess what more can be done to combat rough sleeping and wider homelessness. This work is being overseen by the Ministerial Rough Sleeping and Homelessness Reduction Taskforce and will be an important part of our preparations for the forthcoming Spending Review.While there is more work to be done in this area, there are some positive developments which I would like to point to. For the first time since 2010, the annual rough sleeping statistics saw a decrease in the number of those sleeping rough. Whilst only 2 per cent, this is in the face of average yearly increases of nearly 16 per cent. The annual rough sleeping statistics also showed a 19 per cent decrease in the number of those sleeping rough amongst the 83 local authorities that were part of the first phase of our Rough Sleeping Initiative (RSI) in comparison with 2017. We are currently carrying out an evaluation of the impact of our RSI, that will help to determine what effect our funding has had on reducing numbers of rough sleepersIn its first year, RSI funding provided over 1,750 new bed spaces and 500 staff across the country. This year we have expanded the initiative with an investment of £46 million providing funding for an estimated 2,600 bed spaces and 750 staff. £12 million of this is for areas new to the programme, bringing the total authorities funded to 246.

Local Government: Shropshire

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate his Department has made of the additional cost to the public purse of establishing two local authorities in Shropshire.

Rishi Sunak: The Department has made no estimate of the cost of establishing two local authorities in Shropshire.

Local Government: Cost Effectiveness

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential efficiency savings of merging local authorities.

Rishi Sunak: Our policy is to implement, subject to Parliamentary approval, any proposal made by councils to merge which we assess on the basis of information in the proposal as meeting our merger criteria, including giving greater value for many and yielding cost savings, which were announced to Parliament in a written statement on 7 November 2017 (HCWS232).

Telford and Wrekin Council

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the per capita funding is for Telford and Wrekin Council.

Rishi Sunak: The core Spending Power per dwelling for Telford & Wrekin is £1,729 in 2019-20.

Shropshire Council

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate his Department has made of the efficiencies accrued as a result of the merger of Shrewsbury, North Shropshire and South Shropshire Borough Councils with Shropshire Council.

Rishi Sunak: The Department has made no such estimates following the establishment of the Shropshire Council but an in dependent review undertaken by EY, ‘Independent Analysis of Governance Scenarios and Public Service Reform in County Areas’ published in 2016 estimates the savings to have been £20 million per year.

Shropshire Council

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the per capita funding is for Shropshire Council.

Rishi Sunak: The core Spending Power per dwelling for Shropshire is £1,685 in 2019-20.

Shropshire Council and Telford and Wrekin Council

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of a merger of Shropshire and Telford Councils.

Rishi Sunak: If the two councils were to submit a proposal to merge we would assess this against the criteria which we announced to Parliament in a written statement on November 7, 2017 (HCWS232).

Buildings: Insulation

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department is aware of any fire safety tests carried out in the UK on High Pressure Laminate cladding prior to June 2017.

Kit Malthouse: Holding answer received on 13 June 2019



We are aware of one BS 8414 test carried out in the UK in 2014 on High Pressure Laminate (HPL) panels in combination with a combustible insulation material. This test was commissioned by a private company and the Department only became aware of the test in November 2018. We understand that the arrangement tested failed to meet the criteria for passing the test. The Department’s Advice Note 14, first issued in December 2017 and reissued in December 2018, made clear that a wall system which did not contain materials of limited combustibility would only meet the requirements of Building Regulations’ guidance if it had passed a BS 8414 test. The Department has commissioned its own BS 8414 test of an HPL panel with non-combustible insulation as well as carrying out a programme to research the performance in a fire of non-aluminium composite materials, including HPL.

Homelessness

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on increasing the level of funding allocated to homelessness in advance of the spending review.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: The Government is committed to reducing homelessness and rough sleeping. No one should ever have to sleep rough. That is why last summer we published the cross-government Rough Sleeping Strategy. This sets out an ambitious £100 million package to help people who sleep rough now, but also puts in place the structures that will end rough sleeping once and for all. The Government has now committed over £1.2 billion to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping over the spending review period. This year, Rough Sleeping Initiative investment totals £46 million and has been allocated to 246 areas – providing funding for an estimated 750 additional staff and over 2,600 bed spaces.The Chancellor has said that there will be a Spending Review this year, and the Government will be looking at funding for homelessness and rough sleeping services as part of that. Ministers have made very clear that homelessness and rough sleeping is a key priority for the Government. We are working with other Government departments to assess what more can be done to combat rough sleeping and wider homelessness. This work is being overseen by the Ministerial Rough Sleeping and Homelessness Reduction Taskforce which includes HM Treasury and will play an important part of our preparations for the forthcoming Spending Review.

Samuel Garside House: Fires

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will publish the Euroclass rating of the timber used on Samuel Garside House in Barking.

Kit Malthouse: The Department has commissioned the Building Research Establishment to carry out an investigation alongside the London Fire Brigade of the fire which occurred at Samuel Garside House in Barking. The investigation is currently underway and the results will be communicated in due course.

Samuel Garside House: Fires

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if his Department will take steps to identify buildings with balconies or external façades containing the same material as was used on Samuel Garside House.

Kit Malthouse: The Department is considering what further information should be collected about materials used on high rise residential buildings as part of its ongoing programme of work on building safety.

Samuel Garside House: Fires

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if his Department will lower the threshold of the combustible materials ban to 11 metres following the recent fire at Samuel Garside House.

Kit Malthouse: The Department has started a technical review of the Building Regulations statutory guidance on fire safety (Approved Document B). A call for evidence to inform the review has recently been completed. Views and evidence were invited on the current thresholds and trigger heights in the guidance. The Department is currently reviewing the responses to the call for evidence and will set out its response in due course.

Buildings: Timber

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department plans to undertake further fire safety testing of timber building materials such as cladding.

Kit Malthouse: The Department assisted by the Independent Expert Advisory Panel will keep under review the results from the medium and large scale tests and consider whether further tests are necessary.

High Rise Flats: Fire Prevention

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department plans to include balconies within the scope of the ban on combustible materials for new high-rise buildings.

Kit Malthouse: The ban on the use of combustible materials in the external walls of new high rise residential buildings covers specified attachments as well as the external wall. A balcony is a specified attachment.

Green Belt: Planning Permission

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Centre for Cities' report entitled Capital Cities published 11 June 2019, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of reducing planning restrictions on greenbelt land close to railway stations so that the supply of homes in a city can respond better to the change in demand for housing.

Kit Malthouse: This Government remains committed to building the homes we need whilst maintaining strong protections for the Green Belt. When we revised the National Planning Policy Framework in 2018 we undertook careful consideration of all the responses to our consultation, including those endorsing greater flexibilities over Green Belt Land. Our new approach ensures we consider the purposes of Green Belt, the need to ensure that only suitable land is released for dwellings, and the principle that elected local authorities should determine, using the development plan process and local consultation, where new homes could be built and where development should be restrained. If justified and evidenced exceptional circumstances arise, a local authority is already able to review a Green Belt boundary, and propose alterations through its development plan.

Social Rented Housing: Regulation

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of establishing a new regulator for social housing.

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing a new consumer regulator for social housing.

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on consumer standards of a regime of regular inspections of social housing stock.

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the report entitled A vision for social housing, published in January 2019, published by Shelter.

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the recommendations made by Shelter in its report A vision for social housing, published in January 2019, for a new consumer protection regulator for social housing to complement the current economic regulator.

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing consumer standards in social housing by conducting proactive and regular inspections.

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department's policies of the recommendations for a new Social Housing regulator made in Shelter’s report: A Vision for Social Housing.

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of creating a new consumer protection regulator for social renters alongside an economic Regulator of Social Housing, as set out in the Shelter report entitled A Vision for Social Housing.

Emma Dent Coad: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing standards in social housing by conducting proactive and regular inspections.

Emma Dent Coad: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of establishing a new social housing regulator, as recommended by Shelter in their report entitled A vision for social housing, published in January 2019.

Emma Dent Coad: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the merits of creating a new consumer protection regulator for social renters as recommended by the Shelter report, A vision for social housing, published in January 2019.

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing a new regulator for social housing.

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing consumer standards in social housing by conducting proactive and regular inspections.

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the recommendations for a new social housing regulator made by Shelter in their report entitled A Vision for Social Housing.

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of creating a new consumer protection regulator for social renters alongside an economic Regulator of Social Housing, as set out in the Shelter report entitled A Vision for Social Housing.

Kit Malthouse: Nothing is more important than ensuring people are safe in their homes. Residents’ voices need to be heard to ensure proper standards are maintained and that where things are going wrong they are picked up and addressed. We want to ensure that there is a coherent and consistent approach to regulation to deliver these objectives, and achieve the best deal for tenants and landlords. Our review of social housing regulation is exploring the most appropriate way of doing so, and we will publish the results of that review in due course.

High Rise Flats: Insulation

Sarah Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 5 June 2019 to Question 257077 on High Rise Flats: Insulation, if he will publish the number of (a) developers and freeholders that have agreed to maintain their commitment and (b) blocks that the commitment relates to.

Kit Malthouse: A number of developers, including Taylor Wimpey, Legal & General, Mace Group, Lendlease, Barratt Developments and Aberdeen Standard Investments have agreed to maintain their commitments to fund remediation. We are continuing to engage with owners and developers to encourage them to maintain their commitments and not draw on the fund. We are not publishing details which could identify buildings because of the risk to public safety. We continue to engage with building owners and developers to ensure that all remaining buildings are remediated swiftly.

Buildings: Safety

Sarah Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department's publication entitled, Building Safety Update: Monthly Data Release, how many of the 321 buildings yet to be remediated are expected to complete remediation by October 2019.

Kit Malthouse: MHCLG do not hold comprehensive data on planned completion dates for the remediation of Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) buildings. The private sector remediation fund, announced on 9 May, will remove the biggest blocker to progress on remediation in the private residential buildings. However, it is important to recognise remediation work cannot be done overnight, and it must be done properly. The time to complete work varies considerably depending on the factors such as structure, extent of cladding, and existing fire safety systems. For many buildings this is a complex job involving major construction work. We want buildings to be remediated as quickly as possible and we will be closely monitoring the work as it progresses.

High Rise Flats: Insulation

Sarah Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department's publication entitled, Building Safety Programme: monthly data release, if he will publish the criteria his Department uses to classify blocks as started remediation; and whether that criteria includes blocks for which cladding has only been partially removed.

Kit Malthouse: The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Buildings: Insulation

Sarah Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many (a) public and (b) private sector buildings of (i) two, (ii) three, (iii) four and (iv) five storeys under 18 meters there are with (A) ACM cladding, and (B) other combustible cladding.

Kit Malthouse: The Government’s Building Safety Programme is tracking the remediation of high-rise (over 18 metres) residential buildings with unsafe Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding systems. We do not therefore hold the relevant information for any buildings below 18 metres with either unsafe ACM cladding systems or other combustible cladding.

Housing: Greater London and North West

Jo Platt: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many houses were built for sale under £450,000 in (a) the North West region and (b) London in each of the last five years.

Kit Malthouse: The Department does not hold this information Information on the prices paid on sold properties is publicly available from the land registry http://landregistry.data.gov.uk/.

Ministry of Defence

Intelligence Services: Detainees

Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether paragraphs 15 and 22 of the document, MOD policy on the passing or receipt of intelligence relating to detained or captured persons, published in November 2018, remain in effect.

Mark Lancaster: Paragraphs 15 and 22 of the Ministry of Defence (MOD) policy on the passing or receipt of intelligence relating to detained or captured persons remain in effect. As the Secretary of State for Defence stated in the House on 20 May 2019 (Official Report, column 504), the MOD will review its internal policy in the light of any updated guidance received from the Investigatory Powers Commissioner.



Use of Torture Overseas
(Word Document, 36.22 KB)

Intelligence Services: Detainees

Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment she has made of the (a) clarity and (b) accuracy of the guidance in the document, MOD policy on the passing or receipt of intelligence relating to detained or captured persons, published in November 2018.

Mark Lancaster: Ministry of Defence (MOD) policy on the passing or receipt of intelligence relating to detained or captured persons is accurate and is a true reflection of the provisions of the overarching Consolidated Guidance under which it sits. MOD policy and activity in this area is compliant with both domestic and international law. As the Secretary of State for Defence stated in the House on 20 May 2019 (Official Report, column 504), the MOD will review and clarify its internal policy in the light of any updated guidance received from the Investigatory Powers Commissioner.



Use of Torture Overseas
(Word Document, 36.22 KB)

Joint Strike Fighter Aircraft

Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment she has made of the merits of the recent agreement between Lockheed Martin and the Pentagon on the F-35 aircraft; what the timetable is for the purchase of the 138 F-35 aircraft; and whether all those aircraft will be of the F-35B variant.

Stuart Andrew: We welcome the announcement of the agreement between the Pentagon and Lockheed Martin for the delivery of a further 478 F-35 Lightning aircraft across the international programme. Once formally finalised and on contract, it should deliver the lowest aircraft prices on the F-35 programme to date.The Ministry of Defence's current approval is for the delivery of the Tranche 1 fleet of 48 F-35B aircraft, which are all expected to be delivered by 2025.Decisions on subsequent tranches and aircraft variant will be taken at the relevant time to ensure the most appropriate capability for our Armed Forces and best value for money.

Defence: Finance

Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress his Department has made on securing the remaining £340 million sought for the Transformation Fund.

Penny Mordaunt: The budgetary arrangements for the Transformation Fund will be considered in the Spending Review.

RAF College Cranwell

Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence,  how many people from (a) state and (b) independent schools were accepted to RAF College Cranwell in each of the last five years.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The RAF does not collect or collate data from applicants relating to attendance at state or independent schools.

Royal Naval College

Nia Griffith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many people from (a) state and (b) independent schools were accepted to the Britannia Royal Naval College in each of the last five years.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: Since January 2019, Britannia Royal Naval College have asked cadets, on a voluntary basis, whether they went to a state or an independent school prior to joining the Royal Navy. Figures provided are based on a question asked at cadet joining interviews. Cadets are under no obligation to answer the question so the figures do not reflect 100% of the intake. The figures for January and May 2019 intake are: State School 160*Private School 40*Served in Ranks First 30*  *Notes:1. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10 in line with disclosure control policy. Figures ending in 5 are rounded to the nearest 20 to avoid bias. 2. Figures are a single service estimate provided by Britannia Royal Naval College. As such they have not been validated, are not official statistics produced by Defence Statistics and will differ from total Officer intake published in the Quarterly Service Personnel Statistics.

Armed Forces Covenant Reference Group: Northern Ireland

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the Armed Forces Covenant Reference Group will meet in Northern Ireland this year.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The Cabinet Office are responsible for arranging the meetings of the Covenant Reference Group (CRG). The Ministry of Defence is unaware of any plans to hold a CRG meeting in Northern Ireland this year.

Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 4 June 2019 to Question 257677, which funding theme was considered as the primary reason by the Armed Forces Covenant Trust when the application for There But Not There was submitted to the Covenant Reference Group.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The Armistice and Armed Forces Communities Programme was agreed by the Covenant Reference Group (CRG) as a funding priority for Financial Year 2018-19 which sat under the theme to 'fund projects which support measures to integrate military and civilian communities and allow the Armed Forces community to participate as citizens'. The CRG set the overall priorities for funding, which the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust (AFCFT) deliver as programmes.Under this programme, the AFCFT awarded silhouettes to over 2,700 community groups across the UK and these organisations were required to hold an event which brought together the military and civilian communities to recognise the significance of the Armed Forces community today.There But Not There (encompassed in the charity 'Remembered') did not submit an application to the CRG nor to the AFCFT. They did not receive a grant under this programme; their primary role was to dispatch the silhouettes directly to our grant recipients.

Ministry of Defence: Statistics

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, on how many occasions her Department has received representations from the UK Statistics Authority on her Department's presentation and use of statistics in each year since 2010.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: Details on the UK Statistics Authority's interventions are published in the correspondence[1], publications[2], and issues log[3] sections of their website since 2010.The Authority's Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) also carry out regular assessments and systemic reviews, details of which can also be found on the Authority's website[4].In September 2018, the Authority published the first annual summary of its interventions for the financial year 2017-18[5]. The report for 2018-19 will be published in the autumn.[1] https://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/correspondence-list/[2] https://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/publications-list/[3] https://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/reports-and-correspondence/issues-log/[4] https://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/osr/[5] https://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/publication/annual-casework-review-20172018/

Members: Correspondence

Alison Thewliss: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he plans to respond to the letter of 4 April 2019 from the hon. Member for Glasgow Central on behalf of veterans in Scotland.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The Rt Hon the Earl Howe responded to the hon. Member on 7 May 2019. A copy of the letter has been emailed to the hon. Member.

Department for Work and Pensions

Tax Allowances: Occupational Pensions

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether universal credit claimants are able to deduct the tax relief claimed by relief at source pension schemes from their earned income figure to calculate their award of universal credit.

Alok Sharma: 100% of contributions to employer pension schemes, whether Net or Relief at Source pensions, will be taken into account when calculating the level of employed earnings in UC. This means that a UC claimant that contributes to either type of pension will, automatically (where employers report the information correctly), have their UC entitlement calculated on their taxable pay, after their pension contribution. This ensures fairness for all affected UC employed claimants. If there is some discrepancy in the way in which it’s reported, DWP will manually ensure that the Relief at Source pension contribution is deducted before any UC entitlement is calculated on their employed earnings.

Pension Credit

Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many applications by mixed-age couples for Pension Credit have been rejected since 15 May 2019.

Guy Opperman: From 15 May 2019 both members of a couple need to have reached State Pension age in order to be eligible for Pension Credit. However, mixed age couples who would be eligible for Pension Credit under the previous rules have up to 13 August to make a backdated claim. Couples not eligible for Pension Credit are advised that they may be eligible for Universal Credit and signposted accordingly. The specific Information regarding the number of unsuccessful claims to Pension Credit by mixed age couples since 15 May is not available.

Pension Credit

Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people who are part of a mixed-age couple have been advised by CAPITA call centre staff not to make a claim for Pension Credit.

Guy Opperman: G4S now provide the initial call service facility for Pension Credit. The contract with CAPITA ended in September 2018. Mixed age couples not eligible for Pension Credit are advised by call centre staff that they may be eligible for Universal Credit and signposted accordingly.

Pension Credit

Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what training her Department has provided to (a) her Department's and (b) CAPITA call centre staff on the rules for backdating pension credit claims for mixed-age couples.

Guy Opperman: G4S now provide the initial call service facility for Pension Credit. The contract with CAPITA ended in September 2018. The Department has provided a comprehensive package of training material regarding the mixed age couple policy change to Pension Credit claim processing agents and call centre staff, who provide the initial Pension Credit ‘triage’ function. The training material specifically includes guidance on handling backdated claims to Pension Credit for mixed age couples, including highlighting the deadline of 13 August to potential claimants for making a backdated claim.

Universal Credit

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to bring forward proposals to simplify the process by which social housing landlords advise her Department of a rent increase in order for a tenant in receipt of universal credit to receive an uplift in housing benefit.

Will Quince: Universal Credit payments are designed to mirror the world of work, with monthly payments reflecting the way many working people are paid. This model of monthly payments allows claimants to take responsibility for budgeting their own income and helps prepare them for getting back to work. Many claimants are capable of managing their own financial affairs and for these claimants a Managed Payment to Landlord is not appropriate. However, we recognise that additional support is sometimes necessarily to ensure rent is paid on time. Our Trusted Partner scheme allows social landlords to play a key role in engaging with their tenants who are on Universal Credit, helping those who cannot manage their housing payments to access the support available and to help put managed payments in place where appropriate. We are rolling out the scheme alongside the Landlord Portal, which provides social landlords with the ability to submit information directly to the Universal Credit online system, supporting the timely and accurate payment of housing costs to Universal Credit claimants. The Department is developing a facility whereby social landlords whose tenants are on the landlord portal are able to advise Universal Credit about an annual rent change through the platform. This will help reduce administration for landlords and ensure the correct housing costs are paid.

Occupational Pensions

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have participated in pension auto-enrolment; and what proportion of those people have made additional contributions to their scheme.

Guy Opperman: 8,000 eligible jobholders have been automatically enrolled and 1,760 employers have met their AE duties, from 2012 to 2019, in the East Londonderry constituency. The success of Automatic Enrolment has transformed workplace pension saving. More than 10 million workers have now been automatically enrolled by over 1.5 million employers. Since the introduction of Automatic Enrolment, overall workplace pension participation has increased amongst eligible employees from 10.7 million in 2012 to 18.7 million in 2018. In April 2017, approximately half of eligible private sector employees making a contribution were contributing at levels of 2% and over (above the minimum requirements at the time). Total minimum contribution rates have since increased in April 2018 and April 2019 to 8%. We are continuing to monitor the impact of those increases closely, including how this impacts on overall contribution rates and the savings behaviour of employees. The available data can be accessed in the Automatic Enrolment Evaluation report 2018 and can be found at the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/764964/Automatic_Enrolment_Evaluation_Report_2018.pdf

Universal Credit: Repayments

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 19 June 2019 to Question 260559 on universal credit, what assessment she has made of the average length of time taken to repay in full advance payments made under universal credit.

Alok Sharma: The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Pension Credit: Inverclyde

Ronnie Cowan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) individuals and (b) couples receive pension credits in Inverclyde.

Guy Opperman: Information on the number of individuals and couples receiving Pension Credit in Inverclyde from most recent data (as of November 2018) is set out below: Pension Credit recipients in Inverclyde November ‘18Individual2,742Couple438 Source: DWP Stat-Xplore This information is published and available at Stat-Xplore: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk Guidance for users is available at: https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html

Pension Credit: Inverclyde

Ronnie Cowan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households in Inverclyde are eligible for pension credits but do not claim.

Guy Opperman: The information requested on the number of households in Inverclyde are eligible for pension credits but do not claim is not available at constituency level. Official statistics on the take-up of income related benefits at Great Britain level, including Pension Credit, can be found in the ‘Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up in 2016 to 2017’ publication. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/income-related-benefits-estimates-of-take-up-financial-year-2016-to-2017

Social Security Benefits: Disqualification

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many sanctions have been applied to claimants who (a) are pregnant and (b) have young dependent children in each of the last five years for which data are available.

Alok Sharma: The information requested is not available. Sanctions are only used in a minority of cases, and that is when people fail to meet their agreed conditionality requirements without good reason. A Decision Maker will take into account all the claimant’s individual circumstances, including any health conditions or caring responsibilities and any evidence of good reason they have provided, before deciding whether a sanction is warranted.

Pension Credit

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate she has made of the number of additional claims that will be made for pension credit following the limiting of free TV licences to people aged over 75 claiming that benefit.

Guy Opperman: The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Universal Credit: Overpayments

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 5 June 2019 to Question 257458 on Universal Credit: Overpayments, how many overpayments have been waived (a) in full and (b) in part as a result of applications made by claimants or their representatives since 2013.

Alok Sharma: As all waiver applications are stored clerically, providing this information would require reviewing all successful applications made since 2013 to determine how many were made in relation to Universal Credit overpayments. We estimate that this would incur disproportionate costs.

Universal Credit

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make it her policy to no longer deduct student maintenance loans from universal credit payments to ensure claimants are not pushed into financial hardship while undertaking study.

Alok Sharma: Most full time students in education do not qualify for benefits or tax credits. Universal Credit is no different, as students can access fees and living costs to support their education courses through various loans and grants funded by the Department for Education. It is important that Universal Credit does not duplicate this support, which is designed for their needs unlike the social security system. Treatment of student income under Universal Credit broadly mirrors that in Legacy Benefits which safeguards fairness whilst also ensuring simplification of the benefit system. An award of Universal Credit takes into account the elements of student loans or grants which provide for basic maintenance and disregards elements paid for specific additional costs, such as tuition or books. A flat rate monthly disregard of £110 is applied against the amount taken into account as student income

Universal Credit: Overpayments

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 5 June 2019 to Question 257458, if she will publish for each of the estimated 30 applications made by claimants or their representatives to have their overpayments waived either in full or in part (a) the reason for the request, (b) whether the application was made by the claimant or the representative and (c) the relationship of the claimant to the representative.

Alok Sharma: The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Universal Credit: Overpayments

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many universal credit overpayments her Department has made in the Vale of Clwyd in each of the last five years, and what the cause for overpayment was in each such case.

Alok Sharma: The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Social Security Benefits: Terminal Illnesses

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she publish a list of each consultation event or meeting her Department held during the process to develop the revised guidance notes for the DS1500 with the (a) dates on which those events or meetings took place and (b) names of the organisations or professional bodies represented at those events or meetings.

Justin Tomlinson: The Department held two events, in December 2018 and January 2019. As well as a number of clinicians who attended in an individual capacity, organisations present were Marie Curie, the Motor Neurone Disease Association, Macmillan Cancer Support, and the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

Social Security Benefits: Medical Examinations

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 11 June 2019 on Social Security Benefits: Medical Examinations, what the timetable is for the conclusion of the negotiations to extend the Health and Disability Assessment Service contract; and whether she plans to place in the Library a copy of those contract terms once those negotiations have been concluded.

Justin Tomlinson: The negotiations to extend the Health and Disability Assessment Service contract will conclude with the signature of the contract to support the extension. On current timescales my Department expects this to be by the end of July 2019. There are currently no plans to publish a redacted version of the contract which supports this extension in the House of Commons library.

Support for Mortgage Interest

Stephen McPartland: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support his Department provides for disabled individuals who need to move due to the changing nature of their disabilities but may be prevented from doing so due to the recovery of a Support for Mortgage loan.

Will Quince: Over time someone’s house is likely to increase in value, so it is reasonable to expect those who have received taxpayers’ help towards their mortgage to repay from the equity released when the property is sold. However, the repayment of the loan should not be a barrier to people improving their lives. We have considered this and I am pleased to announce that we will be introducing the option for home-owners to defer repayment of their SMI loan when moving to a new home. This means that claimants who need to move, for example, because of the changing nature of a disability or for better career opportunities, are not prevented from doing so. These new arrangements require changes to regulations which I will bring forward as soon as the Parliamentary timetable allows.

Zero-hours Contracts: West Midlands

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the number of people in the West Midlands on zero-hour contracts.

Alok Sharma: Data from the independent Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that in 2018 75,000 people in the West Midlands are employed on zero hours’ contracts – representing just 2.7% of people employed in the West Midlands. In the UK in 2018 the ONS estimate that 844,000 people were employed on zero hours’ contracts – 2.6% of all people employed. A record number of people (32.7 million) in the UK are employed. Since 2010 nearly 80% of the growth in employment has been in full-time work and over 75% has come from permanent employment’. Average wages have grown faster than inflation for 15 consecutive months.

Universal Credit

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will introduce a box on the universal credit application form through which claimants may give permissions for their data to be used to register their children for free school meals and other income-related educational benefits.

Alok Sharma: The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

State Retirement Pensions

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people who reached state pension age before 6 April 2016 continue to defer claiming their state pension; and what proportion of people who have claimed deferred pre-6 April 2016 state pensions have taken a lump sum rather than an increased state pension.

Guy Opperman: As at 30 September 2018, 40% of those persons in receipt of State Pension who reached their State Pension date prior to 6th April 2016, who had previously deferred their claims, had received Lump Sum payments. Source: DWP Administrative data – Quarterly Statistical Enquiry September 2018 The specific information on how many people who reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016 continue to defer claiming their State Pension, is not available.

Pension Credit

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 11 June to Question 257471 on Department for Work and Pensions: Metro Newspaper, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of an advertorial campaign to (a) promote awareness of pension credit eligibility and (b) encourage the take-up of pension credit.

Guy Opperman: We already use a variety of different channels to communicate information about Pension Credit to potential customers including GOV.UK, the online Pension Credit calculator and the Pension Credit toolkit, which is an on-line tool for agencies and welfare rights organisations to use in order to encourage Pension Credit take-up.

Universal Credit

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many universal credit claimants have been offered a deferral period for advance repayments in the last 12 months.

Alok Sharma: The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Universal Credit

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many universal credit claimants who have an existing advance have been offered an additional budgeting advance in the last 12 months.

Alok Sharma: The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Universal Credit

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 10 June to question 260538, what assistance is available for universal credit claimants who (a) are unable to repay their advance, (b) have already had their repayments deferred for three months, (c) are not eligible for benefit transfer or change of circumstance advances and (d) are still repaying a previous budgeting advance.

Alok Sharma: The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Universal Credit

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 10 June to Question 260540, what the consequences are for universal credit claimants who are unable to repay their advance within the agreed timescale.

Alok Sharma: The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Universal Credit

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 6 June to Question 258971, what information her Department holds on the proportion of universal credit claimants who have successfully applied for a reduction in their deduction in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Alok Sharma: The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Rural Areas

Drew Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will publish his Department's plans for rural communities in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: This is a devolved matter and the information provided therefore relates to England only. On leaving the EU, the UK will have an independent trade policy and a new agriculture policy to replace the Common Agricultural Policy. As a result, the impact of the UK’s departure from the EU on rural communities will depend not just on the shape of a UK-EU trade agreement but also on the Government’s future trade and agriculture policies once we have left the EU. In England Defra is the lead department for rural affairs but issues relating to rural communities are the responsibility of departments across Government. The Government is undertaking a comprehensive and wide ranging programme of ongoing analysis in support of our preparations for leaving the EU.

Trees

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many trees were (a) planted and (b) cut down in the last 12 months.

David Rutley: Trees, woods and forests are a devolved matter and the information provided therefore relates to England only. Neither Defra nor the Forestry Commission records tree planting data except for trees planted in England with central government support. The latest figures from the Forestry Commission’s Corporate Plan Performance Indicators, published on 13 June, show that from April 2018 to March 2019 at least 2.06 million trees have been planted with central government support, equivalent to approximately 1,273 hectares of woodland creation. The Forestry Commissioners are responsible for the control of tree felling under the provisions in Part II of the Forestry Act 1967 (as amended). However, there are a number of exemptions from the requirements for a Felling Licence, including trees growing in private gardens, trees felled directly as a result of the granting of planning permission, felling approved in a legacy English Woodland Grant Scheme and trees felled on the Public Forest Estate. There is also no obligation to fell the trees once a Licence, which can be valid for up to 10 years, has been granted. These are some of the reasons why we do not know how many trees have been cut down. In the vast majority of cases where clear felling has been approved there will be a restocking requirement attached to the Licence. The Forestry Commission also publishes, as part of its Corporate Plan Performance Indicators, the net change in woodland area based on the balance between new planting of woodland and woodland removal, this information was last updated on 13 June 2019 and can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/forestry-commission-corporate-plan-performance-indicators

Agriculture: Environment Protection

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many individual projects he plans to establish to test and trial the environmental land management scheme in (a) 2018-19, (b) 2019-20 and (c) 2020-21.

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many individual environmental land management scheme projects he plans to establish to test and trial (a) climate change mitigation and adaptation, (b) supporting public access to farmland and better understanding of the countryside, (c) preventing, reducing or protecting from environmental hazards (including pesticides) and (d) widening the range of farm sectors represented, including agri-environment programmes, horticulture, pigs and poultry.

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what funding has been allocated to individual environmental land management scheme projects to test and trial (a) climate change mitigation and adaptation, (b) supporting public access to farmland and better understanding of the countryside, (c) preventing, reducing or protecting from environmental hazards (including pesticides) and (d) widening the range of farm sectors represented, including agri-environment programmes, horticulture, pigs and poultry.

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the timetable is for the roll out of (a) detailed objectives, (b) tests and trials, (c) payment methodology, (d) sufficient advisor numbers, (e) the pilot scheme and (f) the final launch of the environmental land management scheme.

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will publish the risk register for the environmental land management scheme programme.

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many staff at each grade are working full-time on the environmental land management scheme programme.

Mr Robert Goodwill: These questions have been answered as one to enable the Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELM) approach to be outlined in full in a single place. An ELM is being developed to pay land managers public money for delivering environmental public goods. This is a large programme of work with 81 full time staff with grades ranging from Administrative Officer to Deputy Director. The Government has taken a number of steps to ensure it has strong risk and programme management foundations in place and will continue to assess and manage these as appropriate. It is not Government policy to publish departmental risk registers given the inherent risks involved. ELM is scheduled to be rolled out from late 2024, with a National Pilot beginning in late 2021. Detailed planning of the pilot is in train. The pilot will run for three years, and will aim to assess the end-to-end operability and deliverability of the scheme and allow us to identify and refine any issues or barriers that occur in practice. To support the development of ELM we are undertaking a number of test and trials. The work is being facilitated by a range of stakeholders, including farmer groups, representative bodies and non-governmental organisations, and covers a range of geographies and sectors. 47 proposals are being taken forward in phase 1. We are working closely with stakeholders to finalise these. Depending on the complexity of the test or trial we anticipate the first of these commencing in Autumn 2019. We have received over 200 proposals for phase 2. We will prioritise those proposals that fill gaps in scheme delivery components, outcomes and land management sectors identified from the coverage of the first 47 proposals. We are working with stakeholders to understand how much funding they might require from the Government to support the delivery of the tests and trials in line with value for money principles.

Moorland: Environment Protection

Angela Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to Special Areas of Conservation in England and pursuant to the Answer of 22 February 2019 to Question 221626, how many consents or permissions to burn blanket bog Natural England has successfully (a) revoked and (b) modified.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: To date, Natural England has revoked or modified 180 consents or permissions to rotationally burn on protected sites, by developing Long Term Plans or equivalent remedies (Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) Revisions, HLS Extensions or voluntary surrender).

Animals: Disease Control

Sir Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to improve biosecurity in the UK; what recent assessment he has made of the risk of African Swine Fever Virus reaching the UK; and what additional steps he has taken to ensure that trucks transporting pigs are not at risk of transmitting the virus.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The UK has robust measures and guidance to protect against the introduction of exotic diseases such as African swine fever (ASF). These measures include import bans on livestock and products of animal origin from high risk areas, a movement standstill regime and ban on swill feeding to pigs. The International Disease Monitoring team regularly assess the changing global animal disease presence and its potential risk to the UK. The most recent assessment was made on June 2019. These ASF assessments are published on the gov.uk website. There is existing legislation which requires the cleansing and disinfection of any vehicles used to transport livestock. Local Authorities are responsible for enforcement and have powers to take action if they believe an operator has not complied with these regulations. A Government led campaign is currently running to raise awareness of the increased risk of ASF and measures that individuals can take to avoid the accidental introduction of disease. The UK Chief Veterinary Officer has also endorsed the National Pig Association’s #MuckFreeTruck campaign.

Drinking Water: Microplastics

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the level of micro-plastic contamination in UK tap water.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) has commissioned research to investigate the efficiency of microplastic removal by drinking water treatment processes. In addition, the DWI is supporting research by the water industry as a whole to measure levels in treated water in the UK.

Pesticides

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government plans to maintain the ban on hormone disrupting chemical pesticides after the UK leaves the EU.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Government has made a clear commitment that the UK’s high level of environmental protection will be maintained outside the EU. We will ensure that the regulation of pesticides continues to be robust and fit for purpose, so as to protect people and the environment. This includes maintaining controls on endocrine disrupting chemicals. We are promptly addressing a drafting error in an EU Exit Statutory Instrument to make it clear that these controls are maintained. We will submit a draft instrument to Parliament for sifting imminently.

Air Pollution: Wales

Ben Lake: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the Welsh Government on cross-border arrangements on air pollution under the Draft Environment (Principles and Governance) Bill 2018.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: Air quality is largely a devolved matter, subject to a small number of areas that are reserved. There has been collaboration with the Welsh Government recognising the legal requirements for the UK.

Home Office

Retail Trade: Crimes of Violence

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussion he has had with Police and Crime Commissioners on tackling crime targeted at charity shops.

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will ensure that the call for evidence on violence and abuse toward shop staff receives representations from charity shop volunteers.

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will create a place for representatives of charity retail volunteers on the national retail crime steering group.

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will ensure any future protections for shop staff selling age-restricted products apply to charity shop volunteers who sell those products.

Victoria Atkins: The Government recognises the damaging impact that violence and abuse can have on victims, businesses, and the wider community; and we are committed to tackling this issue.That is why on 5 April the Home Office launched a call for evidence on violence and abuse toward shop staff. It will run to 28 June and is open to all organisations and individuals affected by this issue, including those working in charity shops. The call for evidence will strengthen our understanding of the issue and inform our next steps.In addition, I co-chair the National Retail Crime Steering Group which brings together a wide range of representatives, including the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, to help ensure our response to retail crime is as robust as it can be. Membership of the Group is kept under regular review and we will ensure the charitable sector is appropriately represented.

Retail Trade: Crimes of Violence

David Hanson: To ask Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment the Minister for Crime, Safeguarding and Vulnerability has made of the extent of (a) violence towards and (b) abuse of shop staff and volunteers in the charity retail sector.

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Minister for Crime, Safeguarding and Vulnerability is taking to ensure her investigation into violence and abuse toward shop staff takes into account the views and experiences of charity shop volunteers.

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will take steps to ensure that the views of charity retailers are represented on the National Retail Crime Steering Group.

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if the Minister for Crime, Safeguarding and Vulnerability will meet with the Charity Retail Association to discuss the extent of violence and abuse in the charity retail sector.

Victoria Atkins: The Government recognises the damaging impact that violence and abuse can have on victims, businesses, and the wider community; and we are committed to tackling this issue.That is why on 5 April the Home Office launched a call for evidence on violence and abuse toward shop staff. It will run to 28 June and is open to all organisations and individuals affected by this issue, including those working in charity shops. The call for evidence will strengthen our understanding of the issue and inform our next steps.In addition, I co-chair the National Retail Crime Steering Group which brings together a wide range of representatives to help ensure our response to retail crime is as robust as it can be. Membership of the Group is kept under regular review and we will ensure the charitable sector is appropriately represented.

Asylum: Children

Paul Girvan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to identify the age of people placed in care facilities with minors when requesting asylum.

Caroline Nokes: Where clear and credible documentary evidence of age is not available, criteria including physical appearance and demeanour are used as part of the process to assess whether a person is under 18. The Home Office will treat a person claiming to be a child as an adult only where their physical appearance and demeanour very strongly suggest they are 25 years of age or over.When there is doubt about an individual’s claim to be a child, Home Office policy is to refer them to the relevant local authority to carry out a careful “Merton compliant” age assessment, which must be carried out by two social workers and must adhere to guidelines set out by the Courts. Whilst this assessment is ongoing, the local authority or Health and Social Care Trust looking after the individual remains responsible for their care arrangements and the safeguarding of other children in their care.The Home Office keeps its policies and processes under review and we remain committed to striking the right balance between ensuring that children who claim asylum are appropriately supported and maintaining the integrity of the asylum system by preventing adults being treated as children.

Police: Pensions

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many widows and widowers of police officers in England and Wales whose spouses were killed on duty or as a result of injuries sustained on duty have had their pensions revoked as a result of their remarriage or cohabitation before 1 April 2015.

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment he has made of the financial effect on police widows and widowers of the loss of their survivor pension due to remarrying or cohabiting.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Home Office does not hold information on the number of survivors’ pensions surrendered on remarriage or cohabitation, as police pensions are administered at police force level by the relevant Police Pension Authority.

Asylum: Detainees

Lesley Laird: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers resident in Scotland are held in removal centres at (a) Dungavel and (b) other UK centres.

Lesley Laird: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many child asylum seekers resident in Scotland are currently being held at (a) Dungavel and (b) other UK removal centres.

Lesley Laird: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the longest time an asylum seeker resident in Scotland has been held at  (a) Dungavel and (b) another UK removal centre.

Lesley Laird: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the longest time held is for an asylum seeker resident in Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath constituency at (a) Dungavel and (b) another UK removal centres.

Lesley Laird: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average length of detention for asylum seekers resident in Scotland is at (a) Dungavel and (b) other UK removal centres.

Lesley Laird: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average cost to the public purse is of each detention of asylum seekers resident in Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath constituency at (a) Dungavel and (b) other UK removal centres.

Caroline Nokes: The Home Office does not hold the information requested on individual detainees from Scotland or from Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath constituency in a reportable format. The last known addresses of detainees are not included in the underlying datasets used to produce the Home Office’s published detention figures and the information requested could only be supplied at disproportionate cost.The median length of detention of people leaving the detention estate in Q1 2019 was between 8 and 14 days, and of people in the immigration detention estate as at 31 March 2019 between 15 and 28 days. Information on the length of detention of people leaving and in the detention estate is available in tables dt_06_q and dt_11_q of the detention tables in the latest releases of ‘Immigration Statistics, year ending March 2019’.The UK ended the routine detention of children in immigration removal centres in 2010 and enshrined this in law under the Immigration Act 2014. There remain limited circumstances where, very exceptionally, unaccompanied children may be detained in the absence of suitable alternatives.The great majority of asylum claims are processed in the non-detained system, with claimants living in the community. Only a small minority of claimants are detained whilst their claim is considered. The current policy emphasises fairness and flexibility. There are no fixed timescales for scheduling an asylum interview and deciding an asylum claim in detention. Timescales are tailored to take account of the circumstances of each case.The High Court and Court of Appeal have confirmed the lawfulness and fairness of the Detained Asylum Casework process. Asylum claims in detention are considered in accordance with published detention guidance, incorporating the policy on safeguarding adults at risk. The average cost to detain an individual in immigration detention is provided on a per day basis. The current daily cost per detainee is £88.68, which cor-responds to an annual cost of £32,368 (£88.68 multiplied by 365 days). Data can be found at the link below: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-enforcement-data-february-2019

Abortion: Protest

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the benefits to women of buffer zones around abortion clinics to prevent protestors harassing patients.

Victoria Atkins: I refer the Hon. Member to the answer that was given to the Hon. Member for Walthamstow on the 24th of April 2019, UIN 243439.

Home Office: ICT

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of the purchase of algorithms used by his Department in each of the last five years.

Caroline Nokes: This is important technology that is in use across the department’s areas of responsibility, including Policing, Counter-Terror and National Security, Serious Organised Crime and Borders, Immigration and Citizenship Services.This is also emerging technology and so usage has ramped up significantly over the last 5 years.Pulling together a spending profile across the various uses over the previous 5 years would be labour intensive and time-consuming and so we are unable to answer of grounds of disproportionate cost.

Visas

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department uses an algorithm to stream UK visa applications.

Caroline Nokes: UK Visas and Immigration streams UK visa applications using a streaming tool that is regularly updated with a range of immigration data.

High Rise Flats: Fires

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the number of fires in residential blocks in 2018.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Home Office published the latest statistics on fires attended by fire and rescue services in the year ending 31 December 2018 on 9 May 2019. The number of fires by type of dwelling are available in table 0205 here:https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/800184/fire-statistics-data-tables-fire0205-090519.xlsx

Modern Slavery Act 2015 Independent Review

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when he plans to publish the Government`s response to the recommendations of the Independent Review of the Modern Slavery Act.

Victoria Atkins: The Government is carefully considering the recommendations made by the Independent Review of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and will publish a formal response in summer 2019.

Visas: Applications

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to improve the level of service provided by Sopra Steria for in-country visa services at UK visa and citizenship application service centres and enhanced service points across the UK.

Caroline Nokes: UKVI officials meet with Sopra Steria Limited (SSL) on a regular basis to review performance and drive improvements to service standards. We are aware that there are issues with capacity at the moment which means customers might not always be able to book an appointment at their earliest convenience.We are working with SSL as a matter of priority on a number of actions to increase the capacity at service points and we expect availability to increase shortly. These measures include; four additional enhanced service points in Sheffield, Leeds, Manchester and Edinburgh over the last month, increasing appointments offered to customers across a number of existing sites and reducing the cost of out of hours appointments.Planning is underway with Sopra Steria and we are looking at a range of options to ensure that there is sufficient capacity within the service to meet demand during the student Autumn surge period.

Visas: Applications

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to ensure that the UK Visa and Citizenship Application Service centres and enhanced service points across the UK have sufficient capacity to handle the increase in demand that will result from the student surge period in September 2019.

Caroline Nokes: UKVI officials meet with Sopra Steria Limited (SSL) on a regular basis to review performance and drive improvements to service standards. We are aware that there are issues with capacity at the moment which means customers might not always be able to book an appointment at their earliest convenience.We are working with SSL as a matter of priority on a number of actions to increase the capacity at service points and we expect availability to increase shortly. These measures include; four additional enhanced service points in Sheffield, Leeds, Manchester and Edinburgh over the last month, increasing appointments offered to customers across a number of existing sites and reducing the cost of out of hours appointments.Planning is underway with Sopra Steria and we are looking at a range of options to ensure that there is sufficient capacity within the service to meet demand during the student Autumn surge period.

Immigrants: Detainees

Stephen Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his oral contribution of 24 July 2018 on detention, Official Report column 909, what extra data on immigration detention he plans to publish; and what the timetable is for the publication of that data.

Caroline Nokes: In November 2018, the Home Office published data on the number of deaths in the detention estate and absconds from the detention estate for the first time in its official Immigration Statistics. This data will continue to be published on an annual basis each August.At the same time, the Home Office published data on pregnant women in detention and further breakdowns of data on reports made by a medical practitioner under Rule 35 for the first time in the Immigration Enforcement Transparency data. This data will continue to be published on a quarterly basis.In February 2019, the Home Office also announced its intention to undertake a more extensive review of the published enforcement data and has invited initial user feedback on the current and future publication of enforcement data. The review will include a formal consultation, which will be launched this summer and will be used to inform any future publication plans.

Asylum: Deportation

Stephen Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been deported who applied for asylum in the UK based either in part or wholly on their sexuality or gender identity and fear of persecution in their home countries in each year since 2010 by country of origin.

Caroline Nokes: The Home Office is unable to report on how many people have been deported who applied for asylum in the UK based either in part or wholly on their sexuality or gender identity and fear of persecution in their home countries in each year since 2010 by country of origin, as the Home Office do not publish data on asylum claims based on gender identity or expression. This information could only be obtained at disproportionate costs.The Home Office remains committed to publishing information on the number of people claiming asylum on the basis of sexual orientation broken down by nationality.On 29 November 2018, the Home Office published experimental statistics on Asylum claims made on the basis of sexual orientation, covering the period 2015 to 2017.These experimental statistics provide data on asylum claims from 2015-2017, by year of application, initial decision, appeal receipt, or appeal decisionData on the number of asylum claims on the basis of sexual orientation can be found in tabs SOC_00 in the experimental statistics in the link provided below:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-year-ending-march-2019/list-of-tables#asylum-on-the-basis-of-sexual-orientationThese are the latest data available, and the next planned update to these statistics is in August 2019.Deportations are a subset of enforced returns. They may occur either following a criminal conviction, or when it is judged that a person’s removal from the UK is conducive to the public good. Information on those deported who have made an asylum claim on the basis above is not separately available. The published statistics refer to enforced returns, which include deportations as well as cases where a person has breached UK immigration laws, and those removed under other administrative and illegal entry powers who have declined to leave voluntarily. Most illegal immigrants are removed from the UK under administrative or illegal entry powers and not deported.Information on all returns is published as part of Home Office’s quarterly Immigration Statistics broken down by nationality, and can be found at tab rt_01:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-year-ending-march-2019/list-of-tables#returns

Julian Assange

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department,  what the cost to the public purse was of the policing and security services operation in relation to the time Julian Assange remained at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London.

Mr Nick Hurd: I refer the Hon Member to the answer given to the Rt. Hon Member for Leicester East; UIN 244020 on the 24th April 2019.

Organised Crime

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent progress his Department has made on tackling gang-related crime.

Victoria Atkins: In April last year the Government published its Serious Violence Strategy which sets out our response to violent crime including knife crime, gun crime and homicides. It also sets out our action in relation to tackling gang related crime through our Ending Gang Violence and Exploitation and our continued support for local areas through this programme.We are making progress in the delivery of our Strategy and have already provided funding to support 29 projects through our Early Intervention Youth Fund, supported the launch of the new National County Lines Coordination Centre in September 2018 and delivered our #knifefree campaigns.In March this year the Chancellor also announced a further £100m of funding to support police efforts to tackle serious violence. £65m has been allocated to support the police with £35m being made available to support the creation of Violence Reductions Units.

Stop and Search

Sarah Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether (a) his Department and (b) individual police forces have imposed targets on the number of stop and searches to be carried out.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Home Office does not set stop and search targetsStop and search can only be carried out when legal thresholds have been met, and as such setting central targets for the number of searches would not be appropriate.We are not aware of targets being set by individual forces. Stop and search can be an important tool in fighting violence, with searches last year resulting in nearly 8,000 arrests for weapons and firearms offences.

Immigration: Turkey

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will reverse his decision of March 2018 to close the permanent residency route under the Ankara Agreement for Turkish nationals who have set up businesses in the UK and are seeking indefinite leave to remain in the UK.

Caroline Nokes: The Upper Tribunal concluded, in the case of Aydogdu, that there was no legal basis under the Ankara Agreement for the previous route to indefinite leave to remain (ILR) for Turkish nationals who have set up businesses in the UK.The Home Office therefore closed the route in March 2018 and, though not obliged to do so, introduced a route via the domestic Immigration Rules to enable Turkish business persons and their family members to obtain ILR where certain criteria are met.

Immigration: EU Nationals

Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will take steps to ensure that all of the EU Settlement Scheme application process is available in every European language.

Caroline Nokes: We have no plans to make the application process available in every European language. The application for the EU Settlement Scheme is simple and straight forward.The application process has been tested with users of different abilities and we have conducted research with those who do not read English. We have also published the scheme guidance in 26 different European languages.In addition, there are now over 300 assisted digital centres where applicants can be supported through their application and we have awarded up to £9 million funding for 57 voluntary and community sector organisations across the UK to help reach more vulnerable or at risk EU citizens and their family members directly.

Slavery

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the 2014 Modern Slavery Strategy in reducing the prevalence of human trafficking and modern slavery in the UK and throughout the world.

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he plans to review the 2014 Modern Slavery Strategy.

Victoria Atkins: The UK Government has had an ambitious Modern Slavery Strategy in place since 2014 and continues to focus on implementing this Strategy. Significant progress has been made in delivering the actions in the Modern Slavery Strategy and this work is detailed in the 2018 UK Annual Report on Modern Slavery.This report also provides an assessment of performance across a range of indicators and future plans to build on this. The 2018 Annual Report can be found here:https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attach-ment_data/file/749346/2018_UK_Annual_Report_on_Modern_Slavery.pdf

Immigration: Windrush Generation

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much money from the public purse has been spent on urgent and exceptional support in relation to victims of the Windrush scandal in each month that figures are available.

Caroline Nokes: The specific information requested is not included in statistical data published by the Home Office.The Home Secretary provides monthly updates to the Home Affairs Select Committee on the work of the department in connection with Windrush. This includes information on the urgent and exceptional support provided to members of the Windrush cohort.The monthly updates can be found at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/correspondence-on-the-work-of-the-home-office-windrush

Immigration: Windrush Generation

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much his Department has spent on advertising the Windrush Compensation scheme.

Caroline Nokes: The Home Office has a programme of engagement in place to promote the Windrush Compensation Scheme. We have a designated team tasked with engaging with communities. Our publicity efforts are targeted at potential claimants under the Scheme rather than a wider audience. We have issued press notices, offered articles to key diaspora publications and engaged in social media activity. We are also exploring targeted paid media to promote the scheme.We are working with local councils, MPs, religious and community groups to raise awareness through a series of engagement events. 14 such events have taken place to date and more are planned. The events are publicised on Gov.UK and publicity material is made available to local authorities and representative bodies.Targeted publicity is the most effective way of informing prospective Windrush claimants about the Scheme. In terms of direct spend on advertising, we do not readily have data on the total cost of all our activities to publicise the Compensation Scheme as this includes design and production of posters and wallet cards, radio advertisements and staff and travel costs associated with organising and participating in events.

Immigration: Enforcement

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many cases his Department has shared proactively shared data with other Departments for the purposes of immigration enforcement for each year for which figures are available.

Caroline Nokes: The Home Office collects and processes personal data to fulfil its legal and official functions. We will only collect and process personal data where we have a legal basis to do so and it is necessary and proportionate.The Home Office may share information with other organisations, but only where the information needs to be shared and there is a legal basis for doing so. Further detail on this, including the categories of organisations with which we may share data, is set out in the Home Office personal information charter https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/home-office/about/personal-information-charter and, for the Borders, Immigration and Citizenship System (BICS), including the EU Settlement Scheme, via the BICS privacy information notice: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/personal-information-use-in-borders-immigration-and-citizenship.Identifying the precise number of instances in which data has been shared proactively with another government department would involve the interrogation of an array of disparate IT systems and would therefore be disproportionately costly.

Deportation: Tamils

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Tamil asylum seekers have been deported from the UK to Sri Lanka in each of the last nine years; and if he will make a statement.

Caroline Nokes: The Home Office does not hold the information requested.To provide the information would require a manual check of individual records which would exceed the disproportionate cost threshold.Data relating to the numbers of asylum seekers removed to Sri Lanka can be accessed in the link below:Immigration: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-year-ending-march-2019/how-many-people-are-detained-or-returned#data-tablesThe UK has a proud history of granting asylum to those who need our protection. Each claim is carefully considered on its individual merits. We expect those with no legal right to remain in the country to leave.Guidance used by UK Visas and Immigration to make decisions on asylum and human rights applications can be found on the gov.uk website https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/country-policy-and-information-notes

Police: Disciplinary Proceedings

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 10 June 2019 to Question 260702 on Police: Disciplinary Proceedings and with reference to the 28 January 2019 BBC News report article entitled Police officers suspended for years during misconduct investigations, what information his Department holds on how much has been paid in wages to suspended police officers between 2013 and 2018; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Home Office does not hold or collect information on the public cost when a police officer is suspended during misconduct investigations. Forces may hold this information at a local level.The Government has introduced a number of reforms to the police complaints and discipline systems to date and is committed to completing the delivery of a package of measures designed to overhaul these systems – making them more transparent, efficient and proportionate.

State Visits: USA

Paula Sherriff: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the cost to the public purse of police support for the visit of President Trump was; and whether his Department provided additional funding to police forces for that visit.

Mr Nick Hurd: The Home Office is closely engaging with the Metropolitan Police and Hampshire Police with regard to President Trump’s state visit in June 2019.The full costs of the policing operation are not yet finalised. Once an application for Special Grant is received it will be given careful consideration and a decision on the level of funding to be provided will be made in due course.

Home Office: Brexit

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what further steps his Department plans to take to be fully prepared for the UK leaving the EU on 31 October 2019 without a withdrawal agreement.

Caroline Nokes: The UK Government remains focussed on ensuring a smooth and orderly withdrawal from the EU with a deal as soon as possible.However, as a responsible government, we continue to prepare for all scenarios. The Home Office has been planning and preparing for a no deal scenario for some time, and we have contingency plans in place across areas including law enforcement, passports and the border.During the extension period, to underpin our ability to respond in a no deal scenario, we are working closely with operational partners to develop our response to a range of theoretical scenarios.

Wales Office

Wales Office: Statistics

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, on how many occasions his Department has received representations from the UK Statistics Authority on his Department's presentation and use of statistics in each year since 2010.

Alun Cairns: Details on the UK Statistics Authority’s interventions are published in the correspondence, publications, and issues log sections of their website since 2010. The Authority’s Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) also carry out regular assessments and systemic reviews, details of which can also be found on the Authority’s website. In September 2018, the Authority published the first annual summary of its interventions for the financial year 2017/18. The report for 2018/19 will be published in the autumn.

Wales Office: Chief Scientific Adviser

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, how many meetings he has held with his Department’s Chief Scientific Adviser between 1 March 2019 and 31 May 2019.

Alun Cairns: None. The Office of the Secretary of State for Wales does not have a Chief Scientific Adviser.

Scotland Office

European Social Fund: Scotland

Hugh Gaffney: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of the suspension of European Social Fund payments on third sector organisations in Scotland.

David Mundell: In Scotland, the European Social Fund is administered by the Scottish Government, and therefore the impact of any suspension of payments on beneficiaries in the Third Sector is a matter for the Scottish Government to address. I would suggest the hon. Gentlemen contacts the relevant Minister in the Scottish Government directly to discuss the particular issue with ESF payments being referred to. I'm disappointed that this situation has arisen but this is a matter for the Scottish Government.

Cabinet Office

Grenfell Tower Inquiry

John Healey: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the timeframe is for a report on phase one of the Grenfell Tower inquiry led by Sir Martin Moore-Bick will be published.

Mr David Lidington: The timing and handling of the Inquiry is a matter for the independent Inquiry and the Government hopes that the report for phase 1 will be published soon.The Grenfell Tower Inquiry has already begun Phase 2 with the ongoing disclosure of thousands of documents to core participants. Phase 2 of the Inquiry will address the design and modification of the building; the fire and safety measures within it; the management, governance and inspection of the tower; and the steps taken in the days immediately following the fire to support those whose homes had been destroyed. The Inquiry expects the Phase 2 hearings to begin in early 2020.

Government Departments: North West

Jo Platt: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of the Government Estate is in the North West region.

Oliver Dowden: The total floor area for the North West as at March 2018 was 983,403 sq.m, c.12.7% of the total size of the central estate.For the purposes of comparison, the proportion of the general UK population in the North West is approximately 11%, whilst the proportion of Civil Servants based in the North West is 12.27%.

Cabinet Office: Living Wage

Justin Madders: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of organisations that hold contracts with his Department pay the National Living Wage.

Oliver Dowden: This information is not held centrally.We always award contracts on the basis of the best value for money for the taxpayer. We insist that employers pay at least the National Minimum Wage, or the National Living Wage for workers over 25.

Parliamentary Questions: Government Responses

Frank Field: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring Government Departments to (a) provide similar information and (b) undertake a sample collection of data over a given period in the event that a Department does not hold the information requested by hon. Members in Parliamentary Questions.

Mr David Lidington: Where departments do not hold the information requested, they are advised to state the reason in their response.Departments will consider any additional questions about similar information or the collection of new information, bearing in mind the availability of that information and/or the proportionality and cost of collecting it.There are no plans to change the way Departments respond to Parliamentary Questions.

Employment: Older People

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people over 70 are in (a) full- and (b) part-time employment.

Kevin Foster: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.



UKSA response
(PDF Document, 60.58 KB)

Domestic Abuse

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate his Department has made of the number of incidents of domestic abuse in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland in each of the last five years.

Kevin Foster: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.



UKSA response
(PDF Document, 81.91 KB)

Government Departments: Food Banks

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the number of Government Departments that plan to set up foodbanks in their offices.

Kevin Foster: The Government is committed to ensuring our democracy is robust, trusted and open so all those who are eligible can participate with confidence. We have convened partners in local authorities and homeless charities to codesign and test ideas to address barriers to electoral registration for the homeless. These will be made available shortly on Gov.uk.

Cabinet Office: Living Wage

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent estimate he has made of the number of staff in his Department in London that are paid less than the London living wage.

Oliver Dowden: No staff in Cabinet Office are paid at a rate below the London Living Wage of £10.55 per hour.

Huawei: 5G

Jo Platt: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 10 June 2019 to Question 260726 on Huawei: 5G, how many operators has the National Cyber Security Centre identified as (a) using and (b) do not using Huawei Cyber Security Evaluation Centre advice and guidance.

Mr David Lidington: The National Cyber Security Centre engage with every operator who uses the Huawei Cyber Security Evaluation Centre (HCSEC) to manage cyber security risks within their networks. All of the significant commercial networks in the UK who use Huawei have access to and work with the HCSEC.

Low Pay: West Midlands

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate his Department has made of the number of people in the West Midlands earning less than £9 an hour.

Kevin Foster: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.



UKSA response
(PDF Document, 91.82 KB)

Electoral Register: Homelessness

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department is taking to increase voter registration among homeless people.

Kevin Foster: The Government is committed to ensuring our democracy is robust, trusted and open so all those who are eligible can participate with confidence. We have convened partners in local authorities and homeless charities to codesign and test ideas to address barriers to electoral registration for the homeless. These will be made available shortly on Gov.uk.

Department for International Trade

Overseas Trade: Indonesia

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether he plans to make increased trade with Indonesia conditional on the removal of virginity tests for women applying to the Indonesian military.

George Hollingbery: The UK has a strong history of protecting human rights and promoting our values globally. We were the first country to produce a National Action Plan to implement UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. We will continue to encourage all states to uphold international human rights obligations. As we develop our independent trade policy, we recognise the need to maximise benefits of trade whilst staying true to our values.

Trade Agreements: Honduras

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps he has taken to negotiate a free trade deal with Honduras.

George Hollingbery: As we leave the EU, the Government is seeking to replicate the effects of the EU’s existing trade agreement with Central America, which includes Honduras. We are working together with Central American partners to ensure that we are prepared for all possible scenarios. Discussions are on-going and the Government will inform Parliament as soon as our discussions have concluded, ahead of ratification.

Trade Agreements: Israel

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what progress he has made in negotiating a free trade deal with Israel.

George Hollingbery: On 18th February 2019, the Secretary of State for International Trade signed the UK-Israel Trade and Partnership Agreement, which ensures continuity in our trade and investment relationship after the proposed Implementation Period, or if the UK leaves the EU without a deal. Securing continuity is the strongest foundation on which to build further on our successful trading relationship. The UK is committed to strengthening our excellent bilateral relationship through the dedicated trade promotion team at our Embassy in Tel-Aviv. We continue to engage with the Israeli Ministry of Economy and Industry and liaise with the government to maximise future trade opportunities.

Trade Agreements: Malawi

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps he has taken to negotiate a free trade deal with Malawi after the UK leaves the EU.

George Hollingbery: The Taxation (Cross-Border Trade) Act 2018 enables the UK to put in place a trade preferences scheme for developing countries that maintains duty-free, quota-free access to Least Developed Countries, including Malawi. The UK has signed an Economic Partnership Agreement with Eastern and Southern Africa States (ESA). As Malawi has not acceded to the ESA-EU EPA it is not party to the transitioned UK EPA although it is eligible to do so in the future.

Overseas Trade: Togo

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what progress has he made on strengthening the trade relationship with Togo after the UK leaves the EU.

George Hollingbery: Draft AnswerAs the Prime Minister set out during her visit to Africa last Summer, which I accompanied her on, the Government is committed to advancing our trade relationship with Africa. DIT has set up the Africa Trade Services Unit to act as the single point of contact for UK companies exporting to Africa. The Unit responds to all Africa trade enquiries, including those related to Togo to improve companies’ trading capabilities and promote trade. The Taxation (Cross-Border Trade) Act 2018 enables the UK to put in place a trade preferences scheme for developing countries that maintains duty-free, quota-free access to Least Developed Countries, including Togo.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Lotteries: Reform

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will place copies of the representations he has received on behalf of the National Lottery and Camelot on the reorganisation of society lotteries in the Library.

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the potential contribution of the reform of society lotteries to (a) charities and (b) good causes in the next five years; and when he plans to respond to his consultation on that reform.

Mims Davies: We hope to respond to the consultation before the summer recess and the response will include a discussion of the key points raised by stakeholders including Camelot (the National Lottery operator). Following the publication of the Government’s response we will provide a copy Camelot’s response to the consultation to the House of Commons library.

ScreenSkills

Mr Edward Vaizey: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the ScreenSkills campaign entitled, Find your future in film and TV.

Margot James: The Government recognises the importance of a strong and diverse talent pipeline to the continuing success of film and HETV in the UK and pleased to see ScreenSkills leading the way with its new campaign. Having been launched on 23rd May, DCMS looks forward to seeing the results of its mix of cinema, social media and online promotion in the coming months and years.

Video On Demand: Competition

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps the Government is taking to ensure the BBC remains economically competitive against video streaming services.

Margot James: The Government is committed to ensuring the BBC continues to deliver high quality, distinctive content for all audiences. This is why we agreed a new Royal Charter with the BBC following Charter Review in 2015-16. Charter reforms mean the BBC can continue to thrive, deliver for all audiences, and be an engine of creativity and growth in the UK. The Government has also maintained the licence fee model for the BBC for the duration of the new 11 year Charter period, and guaranteed the licence fee level will increase with inflation until 2022.

Television: Licensing

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many people aged over 75 years in (a) Scotland, (b) the Motherwell and Wishaw constituency and (c) North Lanarkshire will now be required to pay for a TV licence.

Margot James: The BBC is responsible for the collection and enforcement of the licence fee. It estimates that 4.5 million pensioner households across the UK are eligible for the existing over 75 licence fee concession. It estimates that 900,000 households will continue to receive a free TV licence from 2020/21, rising to 1.5 million households if all pensioners eligible take up Pension Credit. The BBC has not provided any separate estimates for specific nations or regions.

Huawei: 5G

Jo Platt: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 11 June 2019 to Question 261281, whether the supply chain review will include a technical assessment of the equipment and software used by 5G suppliers.

Margot James: The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) undertook a full security risk assessment as part of the Supply Chain Review. The decisions of the Supply Chain Review will be announced to Parliament in due course.

Entertainers: Taxation

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on changes in the approach by HMRC to the entertainment sector through (a) new draft HMRC tax guidance for actors and other performers and (b) legal cases HMRC is considering under IR35 following the Upper Tribunal Tax and Chancery decision of 9 April 2019 in Big Bad Wolff Ltd v The Commissioners for HM Revenue and Customs.

Margot James: The Secretary of State has not discussed this matter with the Chancellor. This matter has been discussed by officials from HM Revenue & Customs and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. (a) HMRC has not changed its approach to the entertainment sector but has been working with the entertainment industry to add some practical examples to the Employment Status Manual, which provides guidance on issues relating to the employment status of individuals. (b) In Big Bad Wolff Limited v HMRC, the Upper Tax Tribunal upheld HMRC’s long published view that the Social Security Categorisation of Earners Regulations 1978, which were in force before 6 April 2014, required actors to pay Class 1 National Insurance and could not be avoided by working through a company. Most actors paid their National Insurance correctly at the time but there are a small number of cases where actors chose to dispute liability and await the outcome of the appeal.

Digital Technology: North Wales

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 11 June 2019, to Question 261114 on Digital Technology: North Wales, what assessment he has made of the proportion of the Superfast Cymru programme funded by the EU.

Margot James: To date, £100,340,636 of European funding has been allocated to Superfast Cymru for the purpose of superfast broadband rollout.

Digital Technology: Denbighshire

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 11 June 2019 to Question 261114 on Digital Technology: North Wales, which public buildings in Denbighshire have (a) received fibre upgrades and (b) are in the process of receiving fibre upgrades.

Margot James: Due to the commercially sensitive information, it would be inappropriate to disclose the exact figures. However, officials at Building Digital UK are working closely with their Welsh counterparts, and have identified a large number of public sector sites within the North Wales Local Full Fibre Networks project that are suitable for gigabit capable upgrades. All sites are subject to survey and as such, the number of final sites is subject to change.

Ofcom: Public Appointments

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what the timetable is for the appointment of the new chief executive of Ofcom.

Margot James: The Ofcom Chief Executive is appointed by the Chairman and other non-executive members of the Ofcom Board, with the approval of the Secretary of State. Ofcom will announce the timetable for the appointment of its new Chief Executive in due course.

Legislation: Electronic Government

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 23 May 2019 to Question 256393 on Legislation: Electronic Government, what his timescale is for bringing that resource up to date.

Margot James: Close to 99% of primary legislation is now up to date and The National Archives have plans in place to prioritise the remainder for completion by the end of the current financial year. The National Archives is the official archive and publisher for the UK government. Publishing all UK legislation is a core part of the remit of the Keeper of Public Records in his capacity as The Queen's Printer of Acts of Parliament, Government Printer of Northern Ireland and Queen’s Printer for Scotland.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Christianity: Oppression

Luke Hall: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure the protection of Christians from persecution in (a) Africa, (b) the Middle East and (c) East Asia.

Mark Field: ​The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is committed to defending Freedom of Religion or Belief as a universal human right which should be enjoyed by everyone. The Government is deeply concerned about the severity of violations of Freedom of Religion or Belief in many parts of the world. In recent years we have seen reports of a particular rise in the persecution of Christians. The Foreign Secretary recently asked the Bishop of Truro to conduct an independent global review into the persecution of Christians. The review will provide recommendations on the additional practical steps the FCO can take to support persecuted Christians. The Bishop has now submitted his interim report; he will submit his final report in the Summer.

Christianity: Oppression

Luke Hall: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to promote religious tolerance throughout the world.

Mark Field: ​The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) is committed to defending Freedom of Religion or Belief as a universal human right which should be enjoyed by everyone. Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon as the Prime Minister's Special Envoy on Freedom of Religion or Belief leads this work across Government and we regularly raise this issue with governments across the world, through our diplomatic network and at the Human Rights Council and the UN. The UK also funds and supports projects that promote respect for all people of different faiths and none.

Christianity: Oppression

Luke Hall: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of establishing a fund to support persecuted Christians through help with legal fees and access to justice.

Mark Field: We have not made an assessment of the potential merits of establishing a fund for legal fees and access to justice. The Foreign Secretary has however launched the independent review of Foreign and Commonwealth Office support for persecuted Christians on 30 January. This review will provide robust recommendations on how the FCO can respond to the persecution of Christians when the final report is submitted in the Summer.

Hong Kong: Politics and Government

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions his Department has had with representatives of the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong.

Mark Field: British diplomats meet people representing the full spectrum of peaceful political views in Hong Kong, in line with normal diplomatic practice.Hong Kong citizens are guaranteed the right to freedom of assembly and demonstration under the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Basic Law. Hong Kong's success and stability depend on its high degree of autonomy and respect for the fundamental rights and freedoms enshrined in the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law.

Hong Kong: Politics and Government

Paul Girvan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to the Government of People's Republic of China on the suppression of political activists in Hong Kong.

Mark Field: We speak to the Chinese Government at all levels on a range of issues concerning Hong Kong. The British Consul General to Hong Kong discussed political developments in Hong Kong with the Director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office and the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing in April 2019. We also raise Hong Kong in the course of regular dialogue with China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.We have raised a number of issues relating to the proposals with the Hong Kong Government at senior levels and Chinese officials in Beijing. These include potential implications for our bilateral extradition treaty, as well as the potential consequences for the UK business community and for UK citizens living in or travelling through Hong Kong. We will continue to seek clarity from the authorities on these points.The Foreign Secretary and Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chrystia Freeland, issued a Joint Statement on 30 May 2019,which noted concern for the potential effect of the proposals on the large number of UK and Canadian citizens in Hong Kong, on business confidence and on Hong Kong's international reputation. They made clear that any extradition arrangements in Hong Kong should be in line with 'One Country, Two Systems' and fully respect Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy. They also urged the Hong Kong Government to engage meaningfully with Hong Kong's broad range of local and international stakeholders in order to ensure their concerns are fully considered.

Libya: Immigrants

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of funding allocated to detention centres in Libya.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The British Government does not fund Libyan detention centres. The centres are the responsibility of Libyan authorities. We remain concerned over the conditions reported in these centres, and continue to lobby the Libyan authorities to pursue alternatives to detention and to implement a better functioning migration system that respects human rights.

Libya: Immigrants

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the Home Secretary on the number of refugees the Government plans to resettle from detention centres in Libya.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The ongoing plight of refugees in Libya is a matter of deep concern for the British Government. A range of interventions, including the focus and scale of the Government's existing resettlement programmes, are regularly discussed between the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Home Office. We continue to pressure the Libyan authorities to pursue alternatives to detention and prioritise human rights. I met the Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister last week and pressed the issue.

Sudan: Internet

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he plans to make to his Sudanese counterpart on the restoration of access to the internet in that country.

Harriett Baldwin: ​The Foreign Secretary's statement on 6 June called for internet and full media freedom to be restored to avoid escalation. I have also called for the blocking of the internet in Sudan to stop.

Sudan: Demonstrations

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what advice his Department has provided to UK embassy staff in Khartoum on attending street demonstrations.

Harriett Baldwin: ​On 5 June the decision was taken to withdraw non-essential British Embassy staff and dependents from Sudan. All British Embassy staff remaining are advised to avoid all protests and street demonstrations. This is in line with the Foreign and Commonwealth office Travel Advice for UK citizens, that advise against 'all but essential travel' to Khartoum and all other remaining areas of Sudan due to developments in the security and political situation, in addition to long-standing existing advice against travel to certain areas of the country.

Sudan: Violence

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent estimate he has made of the death toll from violence in Khartoum; and what steps he is taking to negotiate a ceasefire between the Transitional Military Council and the Forces for Freedom and Change.

Harriett Baldwin: The UK continues to engage with a range of opposition, members of the protest movement as well as the Transitional Military Council (TMC) and with those leading the negotiations. The UK, alongside Troika partners Norway and the US, has called for all sides to engage in an inclusive dialogue that leads to a swift, orderly and peaceful transition to civilian rule. On 29 May our Ambassador delivered this message to Yassir Arman of Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) and encouraged all armed movements to return to Sudan and take part in the talks. We have condemned the way that the opposition leaders have since been treated by the TMC since they returned.On 4 June in a joint Troika statement, we condemned the recent violent attacks by Sudanese security forces against peaceful protestors in Sudan which left many civilians dead or injured. The death toll has been reported with over 100 people killed that includes 19 children. We also expressed serious concern over TMC's announcement that it would cease negotiations and called for an agreed transfer of power to a civilian-led government. British Embassy Officials in Khartoum have engaged with all elements of the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC), encouraging them to be inclusive in their approach and seek a realistic compromise. The TMC have promised the release of political prisoners and employees who observed the strike. Talks between the TMC and FFC have resumed via the mediators.

Yasir Arman

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has plans to make representations to the Sudanese authorities on allowing Yassir Arman to return to Sudan from his exile in South Sudan.

Harriett Baldwin: The British Government condemns the arrest and detention of Yasir Arman by the Sudanese security forces. We are aware that Yasir Arman has been deported to South Sudan. We call for his immediate release and for the legitimate demands of Sudanese people to be respected. Violence must not be used, including against opponents. Sudanese people should not be faced with the threat of arbitrary detention or deportation. We consistently made clear to the former Government of Sudan our expectation that all detainees should be treated in accordance with international standards; we continue to call upon the Sudanese authorities to do so.On 6 June, I summoned the Sudanese Ambassador to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to express the grave concerns of the United Kingdom at the use of violence against civilians by the Sudanese authorities. Our Embassy in Khartoum calls on members of the Transitional Military Council both in public and directly the steps that needed to be taken to improve the situation in Sudan, including the release of all political detainees. We also engage regularly with civil society groups on the issue of detainee treatment.

D-Day Landings: Anniversaries

Dr Philippa Whitford: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether Russia was invited to take part in the recent D-Day commemorations in France.

Sir Alan Duncan: Only the nations that contributed to the landings, plus Germany, were invited. German attendance is in keeping with previous D-Day commemoration events held in France for the 60th and 70th anniversaries. Troops and civilians from across the Soviet Union played a critical role and made immense sacrifices in the defeat of Nazism.

Colombia: Magna Carta Fund for Human Rights and Democracy

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will publish the outcomes of his Department's Magna Carta Fund project on the UN guiding principles on business and human rights in Colombia.

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will publish a report on the Government-funded project to support the engagement of the private sector with the truth commission in Colombia.

Mark Field: Over the 2016-2018 financial years, we financed a project, implemented by Centro Regional de Empresas y Emprendimientos Responsables CREER in Colombia, to help implement the measures in Colombia's National Action Plan for Business and Human Rights which provide for non-judicial remedy of potential disputes related to extractive industry projects. The guide for firms, produced following extensive consultations, workshops and three pilot projects, can be found here (in Spanish).For more information on the global objectives of this (and other) programmes, please see our ODA collection pages on GOV.UK . The Foreign and Commonwealth Office remains committed to meeting transparency requirements, published on gov.uk

Colombia: Mining

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential consequences for Colombian mining companies of non-compliance with the OECD due diligence guidance.

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will publish a report on the Government’s work to support responsible mining practices in Colombia.

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, which private sector organisations the Government has been working with to encourage compliance with OECD due diligence guidance in Colombia.

Mark Field: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas (OECD DDG) sets out recommendations to help companies respect human rights and avoid contributing to conflict through their mineral purchasing decisions and practices. While not legally binding, the recommendations reflect the common position and political commitments of OECD members and non-member adherents. Grievances against companies registered in OECD member and adherent non-member countries that have allegedly failed to meet the guidelines' standards can be taken to the OECD's National Contact Point in the relevant country. When the European Union Conflict Minerals Regulation comes into full force on 1 January 2021, the OECD Guidance will become mandatory for the largest importers of tin, tungsten, tantalum and gold (3TG) into the European Union.The 2018 Annual Human Rights report included details of the Government's work to support responsible mining practices in Colombia. On 6 February 2018 the OECD published a report on due diligence in Colombia's gold supply chain. For Due Diligence to be effective it needs to be implemented across the supply chain. To achieve this it is essential to work with all actors in the supply chain including NGOs and the private sector. We do this through the OECD's multi-stakeholder group linked for their Implementation Programme for the DDG. In addition, the UK helped to found the European Partnership for Responsible Minerals, a multi-stakeholder initiative which aims to increase the supply and demand of responsibly sourced minerals. You can find a current list of European Partnership for Responsible Minerals members at the following link: https://europeanpartnership-responsibleminerals.eu/member.

Kazakhstan: Civil Liberties

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to his Kazakhstani counterpart on respect for the fundamental freedoms of expression and association in that country.

Sir Alan Duncan: We are concerned about restrictions on freedom of assembly and freedom of expression in Kazakhstan, including during the 9 June Presidential election. We consistently raise our concerns as part of ongoing discussions with the Kazakh Government on human rights and democracy, including during the most recent round of the UK-Kazakhstan strategic talks in December 2018 and when I visited Nur-Sultan in April. During that visit I had wide-ranging discussions with senior Kazakh Government figures covering the need for free, fair and transparent elections to support a smooth transition of power and the importance of a representative, multi-party parliament. The UK continues to support a number of projects to promote and develop respect for fundamental human rights in Kazakhstan.

Moldova: Politics and Government

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to (a) the Moldovan Ambassador in London and (b) his Moldovian counterpart on the political situation in that country.

Sir Alan Duncan: We are following closely political developments in Moldova. The UK issued a joint statement on 10 June alongside Germany, France, Poland and Sweden, calling on all Moldovan parties to respect the will of the electorate and to resolve the situation through discussions in the Moldovan Parliament. We continue to call for calm and restraint and for the constitutional crisis to be resolved through peaceful means.

Kashmir: Politics and Government

Liz McInnes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the security situation in Kashmir.

Mark Field: ​I refer the Honourable Member to the answer of 11 June 2019 (PQ 259251).

Sudan: Politics and Government

Stephen Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent diplomatic discussions he has had with his regional counterparts on a civilian-led Government in Sudan.

Harriett Baldwin: Since the removal of Bashir as President and the establishment of a Transitional Military Council the UK has engaged with international counterparts bilaterally and in multilateral fora to shape an international response that supports the demands of the people of Sudan to deliver a swift and inclusive move to civilian rule. The Foreign Secretary spoke with Kenyan Cabinet secretary for Foreign Affairs on 3 May and Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs on 25 April on the importance of international partners' engagement to support a swift transition to civilian rule.The UK has ensured that the situation in Sudan has been discussed at the highest levels, including in the UN Security Council, most recently on 4 June. The UK also continues to promote comprehensive peace negotiations through our role in the Troika. Alongside the US and Norway we engage regularly with the African Union (AU) building on long standing support to the AU's mediation efforts to encourage peace and security in Sudan. The UK welcomes the leadership of the AU in calling for a swift move to civilian rule; it is vital that the transition credibly delivers the demands of the people of Sudan.The UK has called for the human rights of all Sudanese people to be respected and for the resumption of the political process with the protestors and the opposition, and an agreed transfer of power to a civilian-led government, as demanded by the Sudanese people, in a swift, orderly and peaceful manner.

Papua: Humanitarian Aid

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations his Department has made to the Government of Indonesia on the humanitarian situation in West Papua; and what assessment his Department has made of the merits of West Papua becoming an independent state.

Mark Field: The UK Government follows the situation in Papua closely. Officials at the British Embassy in Jakarta visit regularly. I met the Indonesian Ambassador in January and raised Papua with him.The UK fully respects the territorial integrity of Indonesia, including Papua. Within this framework we support the efforts of the authorities and civil society to address the needs and aspirations of the Papuan people.

Sudan: Demonstrations

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to (a) his Sudanese counterpart and (b) the Transitional Military Council on (i) the recent attacks on protesters in Khartoum and (ii) efforts to prevent further such attacks.

Harriett Baldwin: The UK continues to engage with a range of opposition, members of the protest movement as well as the Transitional Military Council (TMC). The UK, alongside Troika partners Norway and the US, has called for all sides to engage in an inclusive dialogue that leads to a swift, orderly and peaceful transition to civilian rule. On 29 May our Ambassador delivered this message to Yassir Arman of Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) and encouraged all armed movements to return to Sudan and take part in the talks to agree a civilian-led transition and achieve peace. We have condemned the way that the opposition leaders have since been treated by the TMC since they returned.On 4 June in a joint Troika statement, we condemned the recent violent attacks by Sudanese security forces against peaceful protestors in Sudan which left many civilians dead or injured. We also expressed serious concern over TMC's announcement that it would cease negotiations and called for an agreed transfer of power to a civilian-led government. Our Embassy in Khartoum calls on members of the Transitional Military Council both in public and directly the steps that needed to be taken to improve the situation in Sudan, including the release of all political detainees.On 6 June, I summoned the Sudanese Ambassador to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to express our grave concerns at the use of violence against civilians by the Sudanese authorities. The UK has called for the human rights of all Sudanese people to be respected, the resumption of the political process leading to an agreed peaceful transfer of power to a civilian-led government, as demanded by the Sudanese people. We will continue to engage with all sides to support a settlement that works for all Sudanese people.

Sudan: Demonstrations

Stephen Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what plans the Government has to (a) assist independent investigations and (b) support accountability for any violations potentially committed during alleged recent attacks on protesters in Sudan.

Harriett Baldwin: The British Government condemns the violent attacks by Sudanese security forces against peaceful protestors in Sudan last week, which left many dead or injured. The Transitional Military Council (TMC) bears full responsibility. We have frequently called for the Sudanese authorities to ensure that peaceful protests are not met with violence and those responsible for the injuries and deaths of protestors are held to account.We have been consistent in public and in private that there must be justice and accountability for the crimes committed by members of the former regime. The UK strongly supports the mission of the International Criminal Court; due legal process must be followed. The UK, through the UN Security Council issued a statement on 13 June that called for the violence to stop and emphasised the importance of human rights, protection of civilians, accountability and justice.

Colombia: Peace Negotiations

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with which private sector organisations the Government held discussions on supporting engagement of the private sector with the Truth Commission in Colombia.

Mark Field: Over the 2016-2018 financial years, we financed a project, implemented by Centro Regional de Empresas y Emprendimientos (CREER) in Colombia, to help implement the measures in Colombia's National Action Plan for Business and Human Rights which provide for non-judicial remedy of potential disputes related to extractive industry projects. The guide for firms, produced following extensive consultations, workshops and three pilot projects, can be found here (in Spanish).For more information on the global objectives of this (and other) programmes, please see our ODA collection pages on GOV.UK . The Foreign and Commonwealth Office remains committed to meeting transparency requirements, published on gov.uk

Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Chief Scientific Advisers

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many meetings he held with his Department’s Chief Scientific Adviser between 1 March 2019 and 31 May 2019.

Mark Field: FCO Ministers offices have regular meetings with the Department's Chief Scientific Adviser, and her Deputy. I most recently met with the Chief Scientific Adviser on 16 October 2018.

Sanaz Allahyari

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to his Iranian counterpart on the release of the journalist Sanaz Allahyari.

Dr Andrew Murrison: We regularly raise human rights with the Iranian authorities at all levels and we continue to take action with the international community to press Iran to improve its poor record on all human rights issues including restrictions on media freedom. Unfortunately, as a mono-Iranian national, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has no formal ability to request consular access for Sanaz Allahyari.​

USA: State Visits

Paula Sherriff: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of President Trump's state visit in June.

Sir Alan Duncan: The cost of the State Visit to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office will be published in the usual way on the gov.uk website before the end of the year.

Prime Minister

Prime Minister: Statistics

Chris Ruane: To ask the Prime Minister, on how many occasions her office has received representations from the UK Statistics Authority on her office's presentation and use of statistics in each year since 2010..

Mrs Theresa May: The information is not held.

Prime Minister: Chief Scientific Advisers

Norman Lamb: To ask the Prime Minister, how many meetings she held with her Chief Scientific Adviser between 1 March 2019 and 31 May 2019.

Mrs Theresa May: I have regular meetings with ministerial colleagues, officials and others.